“The decision to build a road was taken by the authorities, it was passed lawfully, we must ensure that this norm of the law is carried out,” the minister stated.
He has been misinformed, and clearly prefers not to read the appeals sent to him by human rights and environmental groups (including those on unlawful behaviour by the police), nor information from the Minister for the Environment.
All of these would show him that the only fact that he got right was the authorities had taken this decision on May 19. After that men with saws but no safety provisions were sent to Gorky Park to fell trees.
They had no permits, their claim that the road was planned for by the General Plan of the city is quite simply false, and the tree-felling which could easily have killed somebody was illegal.
UNIAN news agency reports that Mohyliov goes on to say that “If somebody doesn’t like this norm, they have the right to approach the court. While it is in force, we are obliged to ensure its enforcement. Full stop. We must not go by what somebody thinks is correct or incorrect. The task of the police is to ensure protection of public order.”
On May 20 the police were called by the protesters because the workmen could only produce the City Council decision from the day before. The police stopped the illegal felling.
But quite soon, clearly under instruction to behave in a different manner, police officers just stood nearby in the coming days, while unidentified individuals from an unidentified security department used violence against peaceful protesters. On occasion police used violence themselves, and also detained peaceful demonstrators, not those attacking them.
This is not to mention the fact that the authorities carried out no public debate, and workmen came to fell trees the day after the decision was taken by the municipal authorities, without giving a change to appeal it.
More information and VIDEO evidence of the lawlessness can be found at the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group: http://www.khpg.org.ua/en/index.php?id=1275908533 and in our appeal to the Council of Europe Human Rights Commissioner here: http://www.khpg.org.ua/en/index.php?id=1275908780
It is deeply disturbing that the Minister of Internal Affairs should be defending such clearly unlawful behaviour.
Halya Coynash is a member of Kharkiv Human Rights Group, www.khpg.org
Read more: https://archive.kyivpost.com/news/opinion/op_ed/detail/68933/#ixzz0r5tQAJN1
