Ivano-Frankivsk, August 5 (Interfax-Ukraine) - The Ivano-Frankivsk City Council has adopted an appeal containing harsh condemnation of the court ruling, which stripped Stepan Bandera and Roman Shukhevych of the Hero of Ukraine titles.
"In making this politically shameful and legally negligible decision, the judges were obviously guided not by a legal argument, but by the instructions of the country’s top officials, which is another proof of usurpation of all branches of power, being consistently pursued by the ruling regime," the Ivano-Frankivsk City Council said in a document adopted at an extraordinary session on Friday.
"The city council sees the ruling by the Higher Administrative Court of Ukraine as a deliberately planned event ahead of the 20th anniversary of Ukrainian Independence – a holiday that is being openly ignored by the authorities led by Yanukovych," the document said.
By acting in this way, "the authorities have only reaffirmed that they are just Moscow’s occupation administration, because only invaders fight against national heroes and despise independence."
Ivano-Frankivsk City Council also asked Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych and Prosecutor General Viktor Pshonka to stop the judicial anarchy in the country and "to leave manipulations of the values of our country’s historical past and mark Ukraine’s 20th Independence Anniversary with dignity."
"We are convinced that the outright Ukrainophobic policy that results in such court rulings prompts mass resistance among Ukrainians, for whom the national heroes will remain heroes despite any decisions by authorities and court verdicts," the deputies said.
