Coalition deputies raid court-house

Matters in Ukraine are taking on a distinctly Ruritanian air. Today PoR, Socialist, and Communist Party Verkhovna Rada MPs raided the office of the Pecherskyi Court Acting Chairwoman, Inna Otrosh. Our old friend Serhiy Kivalov [see photo] was in the raiding party, which also included a former Olympic freestyle wrestler Elbrus Tadeyev, now a PoR deputy.

Kivalov had been in there the day before, threatening judges.

This is the fellow the VR 'appointed' late on Monday to head the Central Electoral Commission.

The raiding party stole the court's seals and the former Pechersk court head, who had been sacked by Yushchenko, Volymyr Kolesnichenko, immediately put them to use stamping documents. [Ukrainians have this 'big thing' about stamps on documents].

At the time this was going on SBU [security service of Ukraine] Deputy Chief Hennadiy Moskal, BYuT VR deputy Andriy Portnov, and the head of the Presidential Secretariat's department for law enforcement activity Valeriy Heletei were in the office. Read the story in English here.

Sergiy Kivalov is the president of the Odessa National Legal Academy. A 2.5 m bronze statue of him was recently erected near Odessa university, part of which embraces the academy. A fine role-model for generations of Ukrainian lawyers to come..

More sinisterly, "Vyechyerniye Vyesti" publishes photos of buses and 'heavies' in bullet-proof vests at a sanatorium for deaf people near Kyiv. The journalist who wrote the piece, Vitaliy Tsvid, says buses have Donetsk number plates and these guys are Donetsk anti-riot police in civilian clothes. He was not allowed to enter the sanatorium and talk to them. He accuses Interior Minister Vasyl Tsushko of lying that no police units from the regions have been moved to Kiev. [Thanks Pete]