The Kyiv-based Crimean Department of the Prosecutor’s Office of Ukraine opened a criminal investigation against all three participants of the German electronic band Scooter for illegal border crossing and entering the Russian-occupied Crimea without Ukrainian authorities’ permission.
Tetyana Tykhonchik, the agency’s spokesperson told this to Krym.Realii news website about that on Aug.4.
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Despite the warnings from the Ukrainian authorities, on Aug. 3 Scooter, most known for their 1998 hit How Much is the Fish, came to Russian-occupied city Sevastopol in Crimea and took part in the music festival ZBest held in the nearby town Balaklava.
“It doesn’t matter whether it’s German, British or U.S performer – the law is for everybody,” Dmitriy Belotserkovets, Bloc of Poroshenko lawmaker wrote on Facebook on Aug.5.
After his official request, the prosecutors of Crimean department started the criminal investigation against the German musicians.
If found guilty musicians could face up to eight years in prison under the Ukrainian law, Tykhonchik said.
“Scooter could have come to Crimea legally if the musicians applied for permission to the Foreign Affairs Ministry of Ukraine. The band was warned about the consequences,” Belotserkovets added.
The news that Scooter is going to perform in Crimea in August, was posted by Russian lawyer Mark Feigin, known for defending Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar political prisoners in courts of the Russian occupied peninsula.
“I came to Crimea. Tomorrow there will be a court session in case of one of my defendants, Ilmi Umerov. And look, they are expecting major concerts here,” Feigin tweeted on June 13 with the photo of ZBest festival poster featuring Scooter.
After Ukrainian media outrage about the German band arrival to the occupied territory, Scooter lead singer H.P Baxxter told BILD that he was surprised his arrival caused an international scandal.
“We are not going to Crimea to engage in politics there, but because we have a fan base there. We want to give them something,” Baxxter told BILD.
Scooter manager Jense Thele also said to BILD that the band was not aware of entering a political conflict, as their music was completely apolitical.
Andriy Melnik, the Ukrainian ambassador in Germany, told the Hamberger Abendblatt newspaper on Aug.5 that German musicians had ignored all the warnings from the Ukrainian side.
Melnik tweeted on Aug. 6 he also called the organizers of the German talent show DSDS to exclude Baxter from the panel of judges, as the musician violated the laws of another state.
Scooter did enjoy its Crimean concert.
On his official Instagram Baxter posted a photo from his Aug 5 concert in Crimea with the caption: Thank you Crimea! Amazing crowd!”
Thank you crimea, amazing crowd! A post shared by H.P. Baxxter (@hpbaxxterofficial) on Aug 5, 2017 at 5:30am PDT
Baxxter wasn’t available for a comment, when contacted by Kyiv Post.
On March 27, 2014, the United Nations adopted the resolution that condemned Russian annexation of Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and called to abstain from any actions and contacts that overtly or covertly support the Crimea status as a legal part of Russian territory.
“This is a great example for all the singers, who want to perform and make money in Ukraine. You all need to respect the law and territorial integrity of our state. Otherwise, such musicians should be banned from entering our territory and forget about the concerts in Ukraine,” Belotserkovets wrote.
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