About a hundred Chornobyl cleanup workers went on a protest at Freedom Square in central Kharkiv on Wednesday demanding that the provisions of the Ukrainian law on the status and social protection of citizens affected by the Chornobyl disaster be observed.
"We’ll come out here every day, except weekends, despite the frost. We’ll protest until the government returns observing the law and begins to implement court rulings. We are demanding an end to political repression against Chornobyl cleanup workers with the use of the prosecutor’s office, the police and the financial inspectorate. The financial inspectorate has no right to check the medical records of Chornobyl cleanup workers, but they’re using secret medical information and conducting inspections. We’re demanding the dismissal of [Kharkiv] Deputy Governor Ihor Shurma, who is secretly leading repression against Chornobyl cleanup workers," one of the organizers of the rally, Valeriy Beliakov, said.
The chairman of the all-Ukrainian association of Chornobyl cleanup workers, Volodymyr Proskurin, said that he had information that the authorities plan to institute new criminal cases against Chornobyl cleanup activists.
"We received the information that Deputy Governor of Kharkiv Region Ihor Shurma held a meeting with representatives of the law enforcement agencies, which was attended by prosecutors, representatives of investigating agencies and the Directorate for Combating Organized Crime. At that meeting, they demanded the opening of new criminal cases against Volodymyr Proskurin, Petro Prokopenko and Volodymyr Biloyenko (Chornobyl activists from Kharkiv) allegedly due to some circumstances connected with our disabilities," he said.
"Since there are no legal reasons to send us for any medical examinations, Shurma demanded that the investigator issue an order for out detention and forced transfer to Dnipropetrovsk to a specialized research institute for disability matters," Proskurin said.
