Anatoly Shariy

Anatoly Sharij (also spelled Anatoly Shariy and Anatoliy Sharij, etc., Ukrainian: Анатолій Шарій, Russian: Анато́лий Шари́й,) is a Ukrainian investigative journalist,[2] videoblogger and politician. In June 2019, the party he founded, Party of Shariy (Ukrainian: Партiя Шарiя), was registered in Ukraine and participated in that year's parliamentary election.

Anatoly Anatoliyovych Sharij
Personal information
BornUkrainian: Анатолій Анатолійович Шарій
(1978-08-20) 20 August 1978[1]
Kiev, Ukraine[1]
NationalityUkrainian
ResidenceEurope
OccupationJournalist
Websitesharij.net
YouTube information
Channel
Years active2013–present
GenrePolitical, comedy, vlog
Subscribers2.3+ million
(March 5, 2020)
Total views3.17 billion
(March 5, 2020)

Earlier, Sharij was known primarily for his investigations of the police and other law enforcement agencies during the Yanukovych government. He sought and eventually received asylum in the European Union, claiming persecution by Ukrainian law enforcement bodies in 2012.[3][4][5]

Early life and career

Sharij began to engage in journalism in early 2005.[6] Before that, for many years he suffered from compulsive gambling.[7]

Journalism and video blogging

In 2005, he worked at Ukrainian women's glossy magazines Natalie, Edinstvenaya, Polina and at the Ukrainian periodical publication Segodnya and has collaborated with Russian newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets and others.

In December 2006 he wrote the article "Why the Baby Sleeps" ("Почему спит ребенок")[8] about the abuse of babies by professional beggars in Kiev: they sleep because they are sedated by illegal drugs or vodka.

In 2008, Sharij became a permanent author at the online editions of From-UA and Obozrevatel, but since 2009 he worked only with online newspapers.

From 2008 to early 2012, prior to the moment Sharij fled Ukraine, he was the head of the Investigation Department of the website Obozrevatel. In 2008–2011 Sharij also authored a number of publications on organized crime in Ukraine.

In 2012 he was granted asylum in the European Union. He received a permanent residency permit in Lithuania for 5 years.[2][9] Shariy left Ukraine because of two criminal prosecutions. One involved the an incident when he shot at a man from a gun with rubber bullets at a McDonald's restaurant. According to Shariy he did this after the man attacked his wife.[3] In addition, in October 2011 Shariy was charged with a second criminal case when he was accused of fabricating an attack upon himself.[3]

"They trumped up one case over a shooting at McDonald's. A man attacked my wife who is on maternity leave, behaved improperly, and who invited me to fight. As a result, he received two bullets from a gun with rubber bullets and a light bodily injury," Shariy said.

"The man left, but I called the police and gave evidence. Nobody called me in for questioning, and all was quiet. The head of the Shevchenkivsky district department of police, Hryntsevych, said that there were no grounds to open a criminal case against me. A month later, Deputy Interior Minister Farynnyk [opened a criminal case against] me," he added.

Shariy said that the incident at McDonald's was no coincidence, because earlier he began investigating the subject of illegal drug trade that "was covered, speaking directly, led, by the Interior Ministry." According to the journalist, the police conducted their investigation into the shooting at McDonalds in four days, trumped up a criminal case against him under Part 4, Article 296 of the Criminal Code (hooliganism committed with a firearm) and sent it to the courts.

— Kyiv journalist asks for asylum in Lithuania[10]

From 2014 onwards, Shariy focused on producing video blogs for his YouTube channel, which, among other things carries out debunking misinformation and propaganda in Ukrainian media. He also frequently criticizes mainly Ukrainian publications related to the events in Ukraine after Euromaidan, as well as the current Ukrainian government.

In May 2018 Shariy posted a series of videos which reported anti-Semitic and other racist posts by Ukrainian consul in Hamburg Vasyl Marushinets (Василь Марушинець) in his Facebook page. Ukrainian officials tried to distance themselves from Marushinets claiming that they did not know anything about his views. Sharij proved that this cannot be true, because a number of posts of this type were "liked" by Ukrainian diplomats, and that Marushinets posted his views not only in the privacy of Facebook, but in open forums as well.[11] The subsequent scandal have led to recall of Marushinets "for disciplinary proceedings",[12][13][14] and on May 30, 2018, he was fired.[15]

Shariy is among the 48 authors of the 2018 book of memoirs Oles Buzina. Prophet and Martyr ("Олесь Бузина. Пророк и мученик"),[16] banned in Ukraine.[17]

Awards and reception

In 2009, Sharij won the Yousmi Web-Journalism Award for "Best Story (Non-Professional)".[18]

Journalist Vladimir Posner commented on Sharij's work, saying that Sharij was one of those who had the right to be called a journalist, because, unlike many others, Sharij is calling a spade a spade. "He allowed himself (and, as I understand it, continues to allow itself) to write and speak the truth about Ukraine. He once ended up making a run of it and now is forced to hide from the authorities of this extremely democratic country"[19]

On November 16, 2017, in a rating of the personalities by number of readers in the Ukrainian segments of Facebook and Twitter, Sharij got the 12th place with the aggregate audience of 511,000 people.[20][21]

On March 18, 2019, the company Brand Analytics published its ratings of Russophone YouTube-bloggers for February 2019. In terms of viewer engagement rate (defined by the company as the sum of likes and comments), where Sharij's vlog holds the 1st place, who collected about 3 million likes and 430,000 comments. In terms of audience, with 1.8 million subscribers he was on the 38th place. The company notices that political topics usually attracts a small fraction of YouTube viewers.[22] In summer 2019 Sharij was downgraded to the 2nd place in the engagement rate category, beaten by vlogger Mamix.[23]

Controversies

Accusations of anti-Ukrainism

Ukrainian media routinely describes Sharij as a pro-Russian or anti-Ukrainian propagandist; see e.g., the Ukrainian News Agency[24] and others.[12] Shariy responded to these accusations by declaring that last years he did not like Vladimir Putin and that he would not call to vote for him.[25] In response in 2015 Sharij announced a reward of 1,000 Euro to anybody who demonstrates a piece of pro-Russian or anti-Ukrainian propaganda in his posts.[26] During the 2019 Parliamentary Elections he increased the bounty to 5,000 Euro.[27] Yury Melnik of Lviv National University explains that it is close to impossible to find his quotations in support of his pro-Russianess. However he writes that this conclusion may be drawn from the one-sideness of Sharij's criticism: he criticizes "pro-Ukrainian and pro-European forces in Ukraine and opposition forces in Russia", while he seldom comments on the actions of the Russian state.[27]

Attitude towards homosexuality

Anatoly Shariy belonged to the Organizing Committee of the movement "Love Against Homosexuality". In that position Shariy declared: “The danger is that sometimes skinheads want to join the movement, [our] movement has nothing to do with that… They [homosexual people] should sit and be happy that they are not getting killed. (…) From their side should be respect; on my part there is nothing to respect them for, [they are] sick people.” According to him the ultimate goal of Love Against Homosexuality is the following: “[When] homosexual people stay in their apartments and won’t come out to streets, to mass media and won’t propagate their life style,” “we demand criminal liability for propaganda of homosexualism.”[28]

Sharij vs. Feygin

In 2017 Russian lawyer Mark Feygin accused Shariy of pedophilia both in social networks and traditional media. It particular, in July 2017 during a live broadcast of the show "My Truth" on the "Moscow Talking" radio channel, Feygin stated "He (Anatoly Shariy) is under investigation for pedophilia".[29][30] Sharij sued him for defamation, and eventually, after Feygin's appeal, won the case.[31] On 24 April 2018 the Moscow Chamber of Lawyers stripped Mark Feygin of his attorney status. He has been allowed to reinstate it after a period of one year by passing a bar exam or by successfully appealing the Chamber's decision. The ruling was based on Feygin's "inappropriate statements" (foul language) made towards Anatoly Shariy's lawyer Stalina Gurevich and Shariy himself .[32] The court agreed with the plaintiff that Mark Feygin used foul language via his Twitter account to address a lawyer colleague and her client.[33] See Mark Feygin#Anatoly Shariy lawsuit for more details.

Registration of Sharij as parliamentary election candidate

While Sharij Party is registered to take part in the 2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election, according to the Ukrainian law, Sharij himself cannot take part in the elections, because last 5 years he did not live in Ukraine.[34] Nevertheless, on July 2, 2019, the Central Election Commission registered Sharij candidate running for parliament according to a June 30 decision of the Supreme Court.[35] On the next day, July 3, 2019, this decision was reverted. In an interview to the Ukrainian TV channel Nash TV Sharij explained his actions in the event. When his registration was rejected for the first time due to the 5-year residency criterion, he contested the decision on the grounds that there was no legal evidence of his absence, because the Ukrainian border guard had no data about his border crossing. Accepting this argument, the Supreme Court instructed the CEC to accept the registration. However the next day CEC was ordered to revert this decision based on an additional evidence which in Sharij's opinion has no legal standing. He presented this controversy as a test for the absence of the rule of law in Ukraine, comparing it with the United States, where a case may be thrown out of the court on formal grounds (e.g., failure to read the Miranda warning to a detained suspect).[36]

References
  1. "Шарій Анатолій Анатолійович" at Central Election Commission website
  2. "Enemy of the State: Opposition Journalist Threatened by Kiev". Sputnik International. April 25, 2015. Archived from the original on June 14, 2015. Retrieved May 1, 2015.
  3. "Ukrainian journalist seeks asylum in Lithuania". khpg.org. Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group (KhPG). March 12, 2012. Archived from the original on September 10, 2014. Retrieved May 1, 2015.
  4. "Kyiv journalist Shariy asks for asylum in Lithuania". Kyiv Post. Public Media. March 12, 2012. Retrieved May 1, 2015.
  5. "Foreign Ministry: Ukrainian journalist Shariy detained in Amsterdam, still held at airport". Interfax-Ukraine. July 18, 2013. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved May 1, 2015.
  6. "Анатолий Шарий". Archived from the original on September 3, 2017. Retrieved September 7, 2017.
  7. "Игромана с девятилетним стажем спасла студентка". www.segodnya.ua.
  8. "Почему спит ребенок". www.myjane.ru.
  9. "Евросоюз предоставил политическое убежище украинскому журналисту Анатолию Шарию". Radio Liberty. June 9, 2012. Archived from the original on December 22, 2015. Retrieved February 13, 2017.
  10. "Kyiv journalist asks for asylum in Lithuania". The Baltic Course. March 20, 2012. Retrieved February 25, 2019.
  11. Anatoly Sharij, "Кaк скрывал cвои взгляды консул-шoвиниcт. Рl, Eng, Deutsche, Hebrew subtitles"
  12. "Скандал з ж*дами в МЗС: стало відомо про покарання консула-антисеміта", obozrevatel.com, May 15, 2018.
  13. "Українського консула в Гамбурзі відсторонили від роботи - МЗС". ua.korrespondent.net. Retrieved April 25, 2019.
  14. "МЗС відкликало консула, якого звинувачують в антисемітизмі", BBC, Ukrainian edition
  15. "Щодо консула Генерального консульства України в Гамбурзі Марущинця Василя Івановича", May 31, 2018, press-center of the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (retrieved June 29, 2018)
  16. ""Пророк и мученик" — книга памяти Олеся Бузины". Рамблер/новости. May 18, 2018. Retrieved April 25, 2019.
  17. "Биограф Юрия Луценко призвал очистить Украину от книг Олеся Бузины". Рамблер/новости. Retrieved April 25, 2019.
  18. "Награды премии Yousmi Web-Journalism Awards 2009 получили интернет-журналисты из Беларуси, России и Украины". Информационно-справочный портал Беларуси - interfax.by. February 23, 2010. Archived from the original on February 15, 2017. Retrieved February 14, 2017.
  19. "Pozner Online". Archived from the original on March 23, 2017.
  20. "Рейтинг украинских лидеров мнений в соцсетях: Вакарчук обогнал Порошенко". Retrieved December 8, 2017.
  21. "Рейтинг самых авторитетных личностей в украинском сегменте Facebook и Twitter - ITC.ua". November 17, 2017. Retrieved December 8, 2017.
  22. BA. ""Топ-20 русскоязычных youtube-блогеров", февраль 2019. Немного политики и много летсплееров и челленджеров". br-analytics.ru. Retrieved April 25, 2019.
  23. "Top-20 Russian-Speaking Social Media Accounts: VK, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube"
  24. СБУ задержала в Киеве помощницу Анатолия Шария, Ukrainian News Agency, 5 September 2017
  25. "Пять звезд русскоязычного YouTube, которые говорят про политику". Retrieved November 1, 2019.
  26. "Я так понимаю, что 1000 евро, обещанные мною, переходят в Новый Год", Sharij's tweet (retrieved July 11, 2019)
  27. "1/2 ПРАВДЫ + 1/2 ПРАВДЫ = ЛОЖЬ" ["1/2 Truth + 1/2 Truth" = Falsehood], by Yuri Melnik (Юрий Мельник, Кафедра зарубежной печати и информации Львовский национальный университет имени Ивана Франко) July 30, 2019 (retrieved November 15, 2019)
  28. "Manifold Angels of Gender" (PDF). www.ge.boell.org. Retrieved October 5, 2019., Heinrich Böll Foundation. p. 42-43.
  29. "Шарий потребовал завести дело на "нездорового" Фейгина из-за слов о педофилии". Retrieved October 27, 2017.
  30. "Блогер Шарий подал в суд на адвоката Фейгина из-за обвинений в педофилии". Retrieved March 21, 2019.
  31. "Решение по иску журналиста Шария к адвокату Фейгину вступило в силу". РАПСИ. Retrieved April 25, 2018.
  32. "Марк Фейгин лишен адвокатского статуса". April 24, 2018. Retrieved April 25, 2018.
  33. "Марка Фейгина лишили адвокатского статуса за нецензурную лексику". www.aif.ru. Retrieved April 25, 2018.
  34. "МИНЮСТ ЗАРЕГИСТРИРОВАЛ "ПАРТИЮ ШАРИЯ", NewsOne, June 6, 2019
  35. "CEC registers Sharij, Yevtukhov as candidates running for parliament", Kyiv Post, July 2, 2019
  36. Шарій: Індульгенція для команди Зеленського скасовується – це факт" НАШ, July 4, 2019
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