PUBLIC APPEAL TO THE GOVERNMENTS OF DEMOCRATIC STATES AND INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS ORGANIZATIONS ABOUT POLITICAL PERSECUTION IN UKRAINE
Political persecution continues in Ukraine. This is evidenced by dozens of high-profile criminal proceedings against opposition politicians and civil society activists. The Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine and the State Bureau of Investigation have significantly stepped up their efforts in this regard. The defense of the suspects claims that investigators are biased and that there are systematic procedural violations.
Odesa activist Serhiy Sternenko has been subjected to numerous attacks and threats from local pro-Russian criminals. He repeatedly reported this to law enforcement officials. Saving his life during another attack by a group of people, Sergiy inflicted a fatal wound on one of the attackers. None of the participants in the attacks on Sternenko have been brought to justice, and the masterminds have not yet been identified. Instead, the investigation has focused on accusing Serhiy, who was forced to defend himself from the next attackers.
The suspects in the case of Pavel Sheremet’s murder, Andriy Antonenko and Yulia Kuzmenko, are still in custody, and Yana Dugar is under house arrest. For some reason, investigators are not submitting the investigation materials to the court. Although on the day of the suspects’ detention, the Prosecutor General of Ukraine named them as the persons who planned and committed the murder, and representatives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs immediately stated that they had indisputable evidence of the suspects’ involvement in the crime. President Zelenskyy also spoke at the same briefing on the day of the suspects’ arrest, putting political pressure on the investigation.
About twenty criminal proceedings have been opened against former President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko. Poroshenko’s lawyers argue numerous procedural violations, and the State Bureau of Investigation publishes official videos with false and defamatory information in the best traditions of Soviet propaganda.
Strange accusations against combat general Dmytro Marchenko, former MP Tetyana Chornovol, former director of the Institute of National Memory and now opposition MP Volodymyr Viatrovych are causing a high public profile. Strange searches were conducted by the SBI in the house of former Minister Volodymyr Omelyan.
The criminal proceedings against MP Sofia Fedina, volunteer Marusya Zvirobiy, and journalist Serhiy Poyarkov for allegedly threatening President Zelensky became a pretext for popular satire.
Criminal prosecutions of veterans who prevented Syvokho from holding the infamous event and volunteers of the Ukrainian Cyber Alliance community who did much to strengthen the security of the state are politically motivated.These and other cases have clear signs of persecution for political beliefs, and the bias of the prosecutor’s office and investigative bodies is obvious.
We do not believe Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova and First Deputy Director of the State Bureau of Investigation Oleksandr Babikov, nor do we believe their subordinate prosecutors and investigators. Their statements and actions systematically coincide with Andriy Portnov’s statements and public threats against participants of the Revolution of Dignity, volunteers, patriotic activists and opposition political figures. In particular, Portnov has repeatedly publicly threatened Serhiy Sternenko, Petro Poroshenko and other currently officially suspected persons with imprisonment and violence. A senior official of the Yanukovych regime and known for his pro-Russian statements, Andriy Portnov is believed to still retain influence over many judges, investigative bodies, and prosecutors. It is also worth noting that Venediktova is demanding a review of the amnesty for participants of the Revolution of Dignity, and Babikov was a lawyer who defended the interests of former President Yanukovych, who was convicted of treason.
There is little hope that the materials of the above-mentioned criminal proceedings will be considered objectively in Ukrainian courts. There is a lot of evidence of mutual protection of judges, pre-trial investigation bodies and prosecutors.
According to the Constitution, President Zelenskyy is supposed to protect the rights and freedoms of Ukrainian citizens, but he seems to be distantly and silently watching the political persecution, while there are many reasons to believe that he is directly involved in it.
We call on the governments of democratic states and international human rights organizations to draw the attention of the Ukrainian leadership to the inadmissibility of violations of rights and political freedoms in Ukraine, as well as to raise the question of the incompatibility of political repression with the Euro-Atlantic course officially declared in the Constitution of Ukraine.
–Myroslav Marynovychformer political prisoner, member of the First of December Initiative Group.
– Josef Zissels, Chairman of Vaad Ukraine, Executive Vice President of the Congress of National Communities of Ukraine, Chairman of the General Council of the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress, dissident and political prisoner of the Soviet regime, member of the December First Initiative Group.
– Ihor Kozlovsky, religious scholar, president of the Center for Religious Studies and International Spiritual Relations, member of the First of December initiative group, prisoner of conscience of the so-called “DPR”.
– Volodymyr Vasylenko, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine, Doctor of Law, Professor, from 2006 to 2010 – Representative of Ukraine to the UN Human Rights Council.
– Vyacheslav Bryukhovetskyi, PhD, Honorary President of the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, member of the First of December Initiative Group.
– Father Bohdan Prakh, rector of UCU.
– Mykola Horbal, poet, former political prisoner.
– Yuriy Shcherbak, writer, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine.
–Volodymyr Ohryzkopolitician, diplomat, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine (2007-2009).
– Yaroslav Yatskiv, academician of the National Academy of Sciences, chairman of the First of December.
– Leonid Finberg, director of the Center for Research on the History and Culture of Eastern European Jewry at the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, editor-in-chief of the Dukh i Litera publishing house.
–Roman Bezsmertnyi, politician, Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine for Administrative and Territorial Reform (2005), Member of Parliament of four convocations, Ambassador of Ukraine to Belarus, representative of Ukraine in the political subgroup of the Trilateral Group for the Settlement of the Situation in Eastern Ukraine.
– Serhiy Kvit, Professor at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine (2014-2016).
– Danylo Lubkivsky, diplomat, Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine (2014).
– Mykola Riabchuk, Honorary President of PEN Ukraine.
– Mykhailo Gonchar, President of the Center for Global Studies “Strategy XXI”, leading expert in the field of energy.
– Anatoliy Podolsky, director of the Ukrainian Center for Holocaust Studies.
– Yaroslav Hrytsak, historian, professor at UCU, writer.
Kostyantyn Sigov, philosopher and public figure, head of the Center for European Humanities Studies at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy.
– Volodymyr Yermolenko, philosopher, writer, director of analytics at Internews Ukraine, senior lecturer at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, member of the First of December Initiative Group.
– Yevhen Bystrytskyi, philosopher.
– Andriy Levus, MP of the 8th convocation, Free People.
– Mykhailo Basarab, political scientist, member of the Presidium of the Public Commission for Investigation and Prevention of Human Rights Violations in Ukraine.
– Oleksandr Skipalsky, Lieutenant General, Honorary Chairman of the Volyn Brotherhood.
– Valeriy Pekar, lecturer at the Business School of the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy.
– Serhiy Vysotsky, journalist, MP of the 8th convocation.
– Yuriy Honcharenkopublic figure, co-founder of the National Conservative Movement.
– Andriy Yusov, NGO “School of Responsible Politics”.
– Vakhtang Kebuladze , Doctor of Philosophy, Professor at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv.
– MykolaKniazhytsky, journalist, Member of Parliament of Ukraine.
– Oleksiy Panych, philosopher, translator, member of the Ukrainian Center of PEN International.
– Oleksandr Sushko, political analyst.
– Olena Stiazhkina, historian, writer.
– Dmytro Krapyvenko, editor-in-chief of the Ukrainian Week magazine.
– Dmytro Lykhoviy, journalist, editor-in-chief of the online publication Novynarnya.
– Volodymyr Dubrovsky, economist, participant of the Revolution of Dignity.
– Viktor Yelenskyi, Doctor of Philosophy, Professor.
– Myroslav Hai, public figure, head of the Mir & Co Charitable Foundation, veteran of the Russian-Ukrainian war.
–IhorLapin, politician, Member of Parliament of Ukraine (2014-19), veteran of the Russian-Ukrainian war, Aidar battalion,
– Oleksandr Ivanov, Perekhodi do Ukrainske initiative.
– Serhiy Parkhomenko, editor-in-chief of the newspaper “Donbas Speaks”, director of the Oleksandr Nikonorov Center for Foreign Policy Studies at the OPAD.
– Pavlo Bilousa veteran of the Russian-Ukrainian war.
– Rostyslav Pavlenko, Member of Parliament of Ukraine.
– Mykola Marchenko , PhD in Law, constitutional law expert.
– Svyatoslav Marynin, social and political movement “Mezha”.
– Yuriy Mindyuk, public figure, director of the Foundation for Support of Democratic Initiatives.
– Hennadii Boryak, Deputy Director of the Institute of History of Ukraine of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.
– Karl Volokh, blogger.
– Igor Magnovskyi, Doctor of Law, is an expert in public law.
–Vlad Vasyl(Vladyslav Vasyl), journalist, media expert.
–Nestor Volyais a social and political blogger.
– Yaroslav Kit, lecturer at UCU.
– Oleh Bereziuk, Chairman of the Ukrainian Law Society.