Serhii Mazur is a member of the right-wing group C14. He was also a volunteer assistant to politician Ihor Lutsenko, a former MP from Yuliia Tymoshenko’s party Batkivshchyna. Mazur is one of the founders of the Kyiv-based NGO Municipal Guard, which claims its mission is to maintain public order and protect the state border. Another C14 member, Serhii Bondar, is also a Municipal Guard leader. Mazur is known for systematically inciting hate against Ukraine’s Roma minority and has also initiated violence against Roma people.
In 2018, he said:
“Yesterday, good people raided the train station, which was almost completely occupied by gypsies. Shit, stench, noise and begging. As well as hundreds of bags of sweets that they got from cleaning out Kyiv’s cemeteries. That’s all that can be said about their presence. As a result of our patrols, there have been fewer negative manifestations of the Roma…The gypsies have occupied Bald Mountain once again. This time, there are even more of them. Like their garbage.”“У Києві націоналісти "попросили" закарпатських циган звільнити вокзал і Лису гору (ФОТО)” [In Kyiv, nationalists “asked” Transcarpathian gypsies to leave the railway station and Bald Mountain (PHOTO)], Zakarpattia Online, April 20, 2018, https://zakarpattya.net.ua/News/180786-U-Kyievi-natsionalisty-poprosyly-zakarpatskykh-tsyhan-zvilnyty-vokzal-i-Lysu-horu-FOTO.
Attack on Roma Camp
Mazur coordinated the attack on the Roma camp in Kyiv on April 20, 2018. He then posted about the pogrom on his Facebook page. He was later served with a notice of suspicion for “hooliganism” (a violation of Part II, Article 296 of Ukraine’s Criminal Code).“Суд скасував підозру в погромі табору ромів лідеру С14” [Court dismisses suspicion of C14 leader in pogrom at Roma camp], Ukrainska Pravda, November 7, 2018, https://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2018/11/7/7197558. On July 8, 2018, Mazur was placed under 24-hour house arrest for two months. On August 7, the court eased the pre-trial restrictions to overnight house arrest from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. until September 18, 2018.
On October 10, 2018, Serhii Mazur's father was injured when a grenade was thrown through the window of their house. Serhii Mazur himself was not at home at the time.
Mazur has accused Ihor Plekan of organizing the attack on his home. Plekan was a mafia boss nicknamed “Pulia” (“The Bullet”), who was associated with the head of the “Torpedo” gang, Oleksandr Prudyvus. Mazur also claims that the “Torpedo” gang has carried out provocations in Ukraine based on instructions from the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB).Oleh Chernysh, “Координатор "С14" Мазур назвав імена організаторів замаху на себе” [C14 coordinator announces the names of the organizers of the assassination attempt on him], Ukrainski Novyny, May 17, 2019, https://ukranews.com/ua/news/632255-koordynator-s14-mazur-vvazhaye-organizatoramy-zamahu-na-sebe-kryminalnyh-avtorytetiv-plekana-ta.
Municipal Guard
The organization that Mazur founded, the Municipal Guard, states that its aim is to maintain order in Kyiv; in particular, around the city’s Central Railway Station, where it has repeatedly clashed with Roma people. The Municipal Guard is known to have dispersed a temporary Roma settlement near the railway station on October 24, 2018.“Денісова звернулася до поліції через напад на ромів на київському вокзалі” [Denisova appealed to the police following the attack on Roma people at the Kyiv railway station], Zmina.Info, October 25, 2018, https://zmina.info/news/denisova_zvernulasjia_do_policiji_cherez_napad_na_romiv_na_kijivskomu_vokzali.
In an interview, Mazur claimed that he does not consider Roma people to be an organized criminal gang.Artem Khudolieiev and Stanislav Gruzdiev, “Звинувачений у нападі на табір ромів Сергій Мазур: Вбивцям дають строки менші, ніж загрожує мені” [The accused in the attack on the Roma camp Serhii Mazur: Murderers are given lesser sentences than I was threatened with], Glavkom, January 2, 2020, https://glavcom.ua/interviews/sergiy-mazur-intervyu-650020.html. The Municipal Guard also stood guard outside of the Kyiv Cinema, a theater which is currently the subject of legal dispute regarding its lease agreement. In the summer of 2019, members of the Municipal Guard fought with activists, who were protesting the theater’s change in tenancy.“У кінотеатрі "Київ" сталася сутичка між муніципальною вартою і активістами” [Clashes between municipal guard and activists at the Kyiv cinema], Ukrinform, June 7, 2019, https://www.ukrinform.ua/rubric-kyiv/2717128-u-kinoteatri-kiiv-stalasa-suticka-miz-municipalnou-vartou-i-aktivistami.html.
