Lustration committee: Lustration in Ukraine failed

After three months the new Ukrainian government has not even begun the cleans of the government system from corruption, traitors and former KGB agents, concludes the Lustration committee.

The members of the Verkhovna Rada ended up not passing the law regarding lustration in spring. Therefore the Lustration committee still remains with the status of a civil organisation, and its activists are working exclusively for enthusiasm, though after Maidan the politicians obliged themselves to give it a special state status for the carrying out of full-fledged lustration. “The new top officials did not want to break the corrupt system, but wanted to lead it instead. We have deposed Yanukovich, but his system remains and continues working, however, with new leaders,” concludes the head of the Lustration committee Yegor Sobolev.

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Crimean Field Mission on Human Rights: On the Aggravation of Discrimination Against the Crimean Tatar People

The Crimean Field Mission expresses its concern about the increasing number of reports of human rights violations against members of the Crimean Tatar people.

On May 15, the Crimean Field Mission learned that Shevkie Taymazov’s home was searched by FSB officers (Russina security service). They informed the Taymazovs that their grandson, Enver Asanov, domiciled at this address, was suspected of a felony, but they refused to give more specific information. The FSB press service in Crimea and Sevastopol refused to comment on the situation.

In addition, partners of the Crimean Field Mission in Simferopol reported that about 15 FSB officers raided the home of Ali Khamzin, head of the Mejlis Foreign Relations Administration. They asserted that the house was raided because Ali Khamzin’s business cards were supposedly found on members of Pravy Sektor. Khamzin is currently in Kyiv and his son, who also lives in the house, was summoned to appear before the FSB on May 16.

Statement for Sub-Committee on Human Rights of the European Parliament on the situation in Russia

Prof. Dr. Robert van Voren
Postbus 1282
1200 BG Hilversum (NL)
tel.:+31-651534123 / e-mail rvvoren@gmail.org / http://www.robertvanvoren.com
Chamber of Commerce Hilversum, NL No. 53660994 – BTW/VAT No. NL0034521059

Statement for European Parliament
Sub-Committee on Human Rights

April 1, 2014

Since the outbreak of the Ukrainian crisis, the former Soviet Union is again daily front-
page news. The rapid sequence of events has led to an atmosphere that is very
reminiscent of the heydays of the Cold War. In Russia itself it has led to a hunt for
“national traitors” and “foreign agents” and observers both inside the country and
abroad fear for a return to full-scale Soviet repression. For the outside world this may
come as a surprise, human rights activists have been ringing the alarm bells already for
quite a few years. Ever since Russian President Vladimir Putin took power, the human
rights situation deteriorated and more and more liberties were curtailed. One of the
warning signs was the return of the use of psychiatry for political purposes to “prevent”
social or political activism or to ostracize an activist from society.

Lutkovska Received No Complaints Regarding Violations of the Rights of Russian Speakers in Crimea

Lutkovska visited Crimea and observed no violations of the rights of Russian speakers. She thinks one of the reasons behind Crimean conflict is the repeal of language law.

Ukrainian Ombudsman Valeriya Lutkovska stated that she has not received a single complaint recently alleging the violations of the rights of Russian speakers in Crimea.

“During this period, there have been no appeals that could suggest the violation of the rights of Russian speakers in Crimea”, said Lutkovska during a March 4 briefing following her visit to Crimea.

Human Rights Commission Condemns Illegal State of Emergency

February 19

Measures taken by the Ukrainian authorities are equivalent to the illegal implementation of a state of emergency in the capital, Kyiv, the Commission to Investigate Human Rights Violations in Ukraine has concluded.

According to representatives of the Commission to Investigate Human Rights Violations in Ukraine, the primary responsibility for escalating instances of human rights violations, murder, grievous bodily harm, torture, persecution on political grounds, and other crimes against humanity falls on the President of Ukraine, his associates, and the heads of Ukraine’s security agencies. The representatives demanded that the government cease the unlawful use of force against the protesters.

Yuriy Andrukhovych: How others perceive Maidan and why it must continue

 

Yuriy Andrukhovych never tires of speaking about Maidan or offering his own views on how to find a way out of the crisis. In an interview with Espreso.TV, the well-known Ukrainian writer shared his thoughts on who should become the next president and why what is happening on Maidan is hugely important for the country and should not be forgotten.

Europe and Ukraine: Resistance to the Virus of Fear

Constantin Sigov, February 8, 2014, Istorychna Pravda

Konstantyn Sihov is the Director of the European Centre for Humanitarian Studies at the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy

We have recently awoken to the issue of new victims in the clashes with the usurping regime. This mutant regime’s violence damages not only the lives of our compatriots, but the ideal of peaceful democratic development in an independent Ukraine (1991-2013).

Resistance to the virus of fear is the key test of our solidarity.

The strategy of intimidation is not limited to the conspicuous violence of the Berkut riot police. Our immediate and distant futures are also denied to us. Our present is being severed from the freedom to which the two generations of the post-Soviet period are accustomed.

The quintessence of this experience are the days and nights of the last two months, the days and nights spent defending freedom on Maidan. This reality cannot be obscured or erased by smoke bombs. It is the source of courage.

Die blutige Ukraine: Anwälte sammeln Beweise für ein “Schwarzbuch” der Gewalt

Tötungen, Folter, Entführungen, Verhaftungen – das ist die Ukraine Ende 2013 und Anfang 2014

Keine Strafverfolgung von Beamten

Zwei Monate lang hatten Menschenrechtler und Anwälte kaum die Zeit, die vielen Fälle von Schlägen, Misshandlungen, Schikanen, Missachtung der Rechte von Verhafteten und gegen Kaution Freigelassenen, die Verletzungen des Rechts auf Privatsphäre bei Durchsuchungen sowie die Verletzungen des Rechts auf Vereinigungsfreiheit und Meinungsäußerung zu dokumentieren.

„Die Menschen vertrauen dem existierenden System der Justiz und der Regierung in der Ukraine nicht mehr. Kein einziger Beamter der Sicherheitskräfte ist wegen seiner illegalen Gewaltanwendung inhaftiert worden, auch wenn er eindeutig identifiziert wurde. Gleichzeitig wurden über 200 Personen, die man eigentlich als Geiseln ansehen muss, in Haft genommen,“ sagte der Rechtsanwalt Wasyl Kysil, Mitglied der Kommission zur Untersuchung von Menschenrechtsverletzungen in der Ukraine.

Opposition MP Orobets: No progress whatsoever in negotiations with Viktor Yanukovych

Progress report, three weeks after talks with Yanukovych began

1. Not one political prisoner has been exonerated despite the new “amnesty law”. The prosecution is seeking to sentence many of them to 12 to 15 years but, so as not to attract too much attention, has been willing to release them for a few months first by placing them under “house arrest”. Then there’s yesterday’s winner, which saw four Afghan veterans arrested for bringing a pickpocket to the police [in a citizen’s arrest]. The thief, I expect, has since been released, perhaps even patted on the back and offered some smokes.

2. Viktor Yanukovych is still President, Viktor Pshonka Prosecutor General, and Volodymyr Rybak Speaker [of the Ukrainian Parliament]. Ihor Kaletnyk remains First Deputy Speaker, while Vitaliy Zakharchenko is still Interior Minister. These so-called ministers of the former Cabinet [which resigned] persistently forget the “Acting” in their titles.

Top legal experts have created a Commission to Investigate Human Rights Violations in Ukraine

PRESS RELEASE
Contact for media (063) 286-68-69

Well-respected experts in the field of law and former political prisoners are gathering evidence for a Special Tribunal regarding human rights violations during the peaceful protests in Ukraine. The organizers of the Commission held a news conference on January 29, 2014 at the press centre of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine.