Nobody is suggesting that previous regimes were not guilty of using selective prosecutions and the use of enforcement, regulatory and judicial bodies for political ends.
Recent developments, however, create serious concern due to their scale and, in many cases, overt disregard for constitutional norms. The public is witnessing unacceptable measures against those who speak out against violations, who assert their right to peaceful assembly and democratic choice.
At the same time, well-founded doubts regarding the motives for arrests and criminal prosecutions of political opponents are gravely damaging Ukraine’s reputation in the world.
Selective prosecutions
On Dec. 26, 11 special-unit officers arrested Yuriy Lutsenko, former interior minister, while he was walking his dog. The following day, the Pechersky District Court in Kyiv ordered Lutsenko jailed for two months.
His imprisonment is demanded largely because Lutsenko was deemed to be dragging out the reading of the considerable weight of material in the criminal file, and because he had given interviews regarding his criminal prosecution to various media outlets.
The former prime minister, Yulia Tymoshenko, is also facing criminal charges. The government’s claims that this is part of an anti-corruption campaign sound very thin when the many arrests and criminal investigations initiated over recent weeks have all focused on former members of Tymoshenko’s government, including Lutsenko.
They coincide also with the latest obstructions to anti-corruption
legislation. The laws due to come into force on Jan. 1 have been
cancelled, while the President’s alternative at present does not include the requirement for income and asset declarations from public officials’ family members.
The law on access to public information remains stalled in parliament. All of this seriously undermines confidence in the regime’s commitment to tackle corruption openly and impartially.
In some of the cases where members of Tymoshenko’s government have been
charged over misuse of position, the indicted offences are still being
committed. There can be no hope of convincing the Ukrainian public and the world that measures against a former government official for not following tender procedure are aimed at eradicating corruption and saving public funds when the same funds were used without any tender, accountability or transparency to pay for a government-commissioned “audit” into the former government’s affairs.
Judicial independence
An independent judiciary is rightly considered to be the stalwart of any democracy. With Ukraine’s achievements in this area already questionable, the judicial changes introduced this year have elicited concern from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and the Venice Commission.
Their comments have focused specifically on the unconstitutional reduction in powers of the Supreme Court and increased scope of a political body – the High Council off Justice — which has power over the appointment and dismissal of judges. This, and the fact that the brother of the Prosecutor General is head of the High Court for Civil and Criminal Cases, raises concerns regarding judicial impartiality.
Many commentators unfortunately linked the remand in custody on Dec. 24 of former deputy justice minister Yevhen Korniychuk with the politician’s father-in-law, Vasyl Onopenko, chief justice of the Supreme Court. Media reports suggest that the arrest and search might be aimed at forcing Onopenko to resign.
Not only politicians
While it is the arrests of political opponents which hit the headlines, the same dangerous selectivity and unacceptable deployment of state bodies has been of concern for some time. Just some examples:
Yakob Strogan
This Kharkiv man made public allegations that he had been abducted and tortured by police officers who tried to extort money from his wife in August. In December, a week after he repeated his allegations at parliamentary hearings, the police abruptly reclassified the minor domestic dispute between two neighbors which had led to police intervention in August, charging Strogan with attempted murder. Despite being brought to court the next day with clear signs of beating, the judge agreed to keep him jailed, handing him back to the same people he alleged tortured him..
Dmytro Groisman
During recent weeks criminal charges have also been brought against the coordinator of the Vinnytsa Human Rights Group. The charges themselves relate to material on Dmytro Groisman’s personal blog. This must also be seen against a background of numerous unwarranted “conversations” or unexplained “checks” of civic organizations carried out by the Security Service [SBU] or prosecutor’s office.
Peaceful assembly
During attempts to stop illegal tree-felling in Kharkiv’s Gorky Park in May and June, both the police and judiciary were involved in denial of the right to peaceful protest.
Despite a court ban on the Independence Square protest over the new Tax Code in November and early December, the numbers were enormous and no attempts were made to disperse them (although the tent camp was forcibly removed). The police however made it publicly known that criminal investigations had been initiated – one over the blocking of roads on Nov. 22. Of even greater concern are the measures taken by police with activists sent to jail, others taken from their workplaces for questioning, as well as media outlets being approached for video recordings to use in tracking down “offenders.”
All of this seems clearly aimed at deterring potential protesters and puts a question mark over the present regime’s adherence to rights enshrined in Ukraine’s Constitution.
Election at Donetsk University
The events around the election of the new rector of the Donetsk National University are disturbing. Following the election of Professor Yury Lysenko, rather than the acting rector since September, Petro Yehorov, who was clearly supported by the new leadership of the Ministry of Education, Professor Lysenko’s wife has been subjected to lengthy searches and would appear to be the object of a criminal investigation.
It was only on Dec. 17, after an all-night search, that the prosecutor informed that a criminal investigation had been initiated on Dec. 9,the day before the election, on the basis of a report “from the university management.”
That same evening, Lysenko’s wife, Tetyana Lev, was also attacked by two men who shouted that this was in payment for her husband.
The appointment has now also been stalled by a court case brought by a
police colonel teaching at the National University of Interior Affairs. The court has obligingly “prohibited” the ministry from formalizing Lysenko’s appointment.
While each case should be judged on its merits, the misuse of enforcement and regulatory agencies has become endemic, and confidence that the courts will uphold the law is dwindling.
Rejection of political reprisals against opponents and a real fight against corruption will bring Ukraine respect. Selective prosecutions, subservient courts and improper use of the enforcement bodies can lead only to Ukraine’s isolation, continued instability and poverty.
Halya Coynash is a member of the Kharkiv Human Rights Group.
