In early 2014, Arsen Avakov, then an opposition lawmaker, fought against then President Viktor Yanukovych’s police state during the EuroMaidan Revolution.
But now, as interior minister, he is suggesting setting up such a police state.
Reacting to the murder of two patrol police officers in Dnipro on Sept. 24, Avakov proposed introducing the principle “first obey the police and then dispute their actions” – implying that one must obey even illegal orders. And he called for penalties for insulting the police.
There is no way to legislate trust and respect. This proposal is already further undermining relations between police and society, which have never been great.
Ukraine’s police officers have been notoriously corrupt, incompetent, brutal and lawless, with the new police patrols accounting for a tiny fraction of the 220,000 Interior Ministry employees. In 2014, police officers beat and killed EuroMaidan protesters and some of them even kept their jobs.
Law enforcement will earn the public’s respect only by obeying laws and solving crimes — serving rather than repressing the people. Instead, Avakov is obstructing reforms, failing to engage civil society and protecting cronies.
Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this editorial incorrectly stated that Avakov wrote on Facebook in early 2014: “Go to the Presidential Administration to set up a police state… The pigs are not people.” This post has turned out to be a fake that emerged in 2015.
