But prosecutors’ dismissal of Chornovol’s beating by several men as a simple case of road rage gone awry reveals the perverse evil that pervades many officials occupying positions of authority in President Viktor Yanukovych’s repressive and autocratic government.
It’s why the entire top ranks of law enforcement in Ukraine need to be purged and the criminal justice system upended to put in place one that allows citizen juries have the final say on guilt and innocence, that allows for independent prosecutors to pursue cases of high-level corruption and that creates meaningful oversight to halt the daily abuses.
Chornovol was hunted down on the road by a group of men who beat her unconscious with their fists, breaking her nose and given her a concussion that required weeks of hospitalization. Yet prosecutors dismissed the case as “hooliganism” and road rage, caused by Chornovol cutting in front of another car.
As human rights activist Halya Coynash wrote Chornovol’s response was swift and to the point: The Prosecutor General’s Office stated that “the attempt on my life was because I ‘cut in front’ of somebody and thus ‘provoked’ their hooligan actions. I ‘cut in front’ of Yanukovych and will continue to do so. That is really the only reason for the attack on me.”
