You're reading: Herman: No infringement of rights and freedoms in Ukraine

The new government does not infringe the rights and freedoms of Ukrainian citizens, but there are some rumors that affect the president and the government in general, Deputy Head of the Ukrainian Presidential Administration has said.

"I absolutely refute these statements [on pressure being applied to writers and journalists], [and] I would like to speak here only about several particular cases," she said on Channel 5 on Sunday evening.

In particular, the deputy presidential administration head called the actions by the police in relation to writer Maria Matios "a lot of nonsense."

"Our police are as they are… it’s a pity, but we don’t have other police officers for our writers. But they [the police officers] should be educated, trained, [improved]. And I believe that it was a huge mistake [to search the writer’s apartment]."

Herman said that the opposition had taken advantage of this situation.

"I understand that the police have their own work to do, but apart from their work the police must have the head. And if the police do not have a head and brains, then they will do great harm to the president," Herman said.

She also said she was sure that such cases would not happen in Ukraine in the future.

In addition, the deputy presidential administration head said that the position of Freedom House, the U.S. non-governmental organization that lowered Ukraine’s rating to the category of countries with partial press freedom, was biased.

"I believe that Freedom House was biased against Ukraine… For us the greatest pledge of freedom is the economic freedom of Ukrainians… Freedom House also got some one-sided information," Herman said.