'Segodnya' publishes the results of an opinion poll whether Ukrainians support entry into the European Union, or favour entry into a Customs Union with Russia and other former Soviet countries.
According to a poll 42% of respondents support entry into the EU, whilst 31% support accession to the Customs Union.
13.5% of Ukrainians believe that Ukraine should join neither the EU or the CU.
However if the results are broken down by age, 54% of 18-29 year olds lean in the European direction, and only 19% support entry into the CU.
Among people aged 60 and over, 45% support joining the CU with Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and 30% favour the EU.
The result is very clear - Ukraine has only one way to go..
['Segodna' is owned by Rinat Akhmetov...Ukraine's oligarchs are strongly in favour of Euro-integration and are fearful of their businesses being gobbled up by Russian magnates..]
Friday, June 28, 2013
Thursday, June 27, 2013
Why events in Chausove are so significant
Prominent journalist Serhiy Vysotsky on the Liga.net site explains why the events in Chausove-2, [about which I have been blogging several times recently], are so significant.
Below is a summary of his article:
The use of skinhead thugs in political conflicts is fraught with unpredictable consequences. Non interference by security forces leaves citizens with no choice but to rely on themselves for self-protection.
The money that a businessman Arkady Kornatsky invested in 'Batkivshchyna' for his nomination in last year's parliamentary election was not in vain.
It is rather baffling why in their attempt to extort Kornatsky's business, local competitors affiliated to top government figures have not utilised the normal power and law enforcement agencies. Most likely, this was not approved by Kyiv.
To press a candidate from the opposition so openly using the prosecutor's office, the police and the courts, months before an important Euro summit was risky. Therefore, given the greed and determination to 'break' the obstinate landowner, a "gangster scenario" was chosen.
At first glance nothing new happened. Property rights in Ukraine are often opaque, land registers suspect, and flexible judges can be bought off.
However, virtually all property raids until now have been given a veneer of legal legitimacy. Raiders always enlist the help of judges and make sure 'Berkut' special forces are on hand to assist. And the fact that in the case of Kornatsky the authorities (even thought they were local) did not resort to the normal raiding procedure but rather resorted to banal thuggery, suggests that we are beginning to deal with an unprecedented situation for the country.
It is believed that the power of states is inversely proportional to the level of corruption, crime rates and levels of illegitimate violence. An authoritarian regime as a rule, builds a strong state. Heavy regulation of the economy and suppression of crime are the classic characteristics of a monolithic repressive dictatorship apparatus. E.g. it is difficult to imagine that the Belarus authorities would use gangsters to solve their problems. Internal security forces do this on their own.
The current system of government in Ukraine is unique. It is a kind of mock state - an outwardly attractive stage set in which it is possible to stumble upon a secret door. An attractive painted backdrop encourages investors to invest in a promising country that has bright prospects in the European Union. But in reality behind the secret door lies 'obschak' [an organised criminal network], black accounting procedures, and hidden arsenals of weapons.
The state in this case is just a cover for organised criminal gangs - a huge shell company. Shell companies have their own accountants, managers, a pretty girl at the reception desk, as well as their own funds. But real purpose they serve for their shareholders is not true development (albeit by authoritarian or dictatorial methods), but rather the laundering of shady profits and transfer of money to secure hidden accounts. In such a state, everything gets turned upside down to the extent that the right of legitimate use of force is handed over by the police to thugs.
What happened on the Kornatsky farmland was a testing of the technology that will be used in 2015 during the presidential elections. The recipe is simple - the police do not intervene and do not interfere, as during the protest action on May 18 in Kyiv. On the contrary, people were dispersed on that day by unidentified "anti-fascists".
Observers during last autumn's parliamentary election were not ejected by 'Berkut' special forces but by muscular "journalists." Protocols of the election results were destroyed not by officials but by thieves who broke in through the window.
Security forces seem to cast a blind eye to all of these events. [Your blogger has been told by witnesses on the spot that this was indeed the case at disputed electoral constituency #223 in Kyiv.]
This technology is not new. In local elections in Mukacheve in 2004, bandit resources were employed by the Social Democratic Party when they clashed with supporters of the Baloha clan.
Use of skinheads and thugs in political conflicts is fraught with unpredictable consequences. When you are being attacked not the police but by a pack of thugs you are entitled to defend yourself and save your life by any means necessary. In this war is difficult to predict a winner. The opposition needs to be concerned not just about how to resist administrative pressure, but also bandit violence.
Below is a summary of his article:
The use of skinhead thugs in political conflicts is fraught with unpredictable consequences. Non interference by security forces leaves citizens with no choice but to rely on themselves for self-protection.
The money that a businessman Arkady Kornatsky invested in 'Batkivshchyna' for his nomination in last year's parliamentary election was not in vain.
It is rather baffling why in their attempt to extort Kornatsky's business, local competitors affiliated to top government figures have not utilised the normal power and law enforcement agencies. Most likely, this was not approved by Kyiv.
To press a candidate from the opposition so openly using the prosecutor's office, the police and the courts, months before an important Euro summit was risky. Therefore, given the greed and determination to 'break' the obstinate landowner, a "gangster scenario" was chosen.
At first glance nothing new happened. Property rights in Ukraine are often opaque, land registers suspect, and flexible judges can be bought off.
However, virtually all property raids until now have been given a veneer of legal legitimacy. Raiders always enlist the help of judges and make sure 'Berkut' special forces are on hand to assist. And the fact that in the case of Kornatsky the authorities (even thought they were local) did not resort to the normal raiding procedure but rather resorted to banal thuggery, suggests that we are beginning to deal with an unprecedented situation for the country.
It is believed that the power of states is inversely proportional to the level of corruption, crime rates and levels of illegitimate violence. An authoritarian regime as a rule, builds a strong state. Heavy regulation of the economy and suppression of crime are the classic characteristics of a monolithic repressive dictatorship apparatus. E.g. it is difficult to imagine that the Belarus authorities would use gangsters to solve their problems. Internal security forces do this on their own.
The current system of government in Ukraine is unique. It is a kind of mock state - an outwardly attractive stage set in which it is possible to stumble upon a secret door. An attractive painted backdrop encourages investors to invest in a promising country that has bright prospects in the European Union. But in reality behind the secret door lies 'obschak' [an organised criminal network], black accounting procedures, and hidden arsenals of weapons.
The state in this case is just a cover for organised criminal gangs - a huge shell company. Shell companies have their own accountants, managers, a pretty girl at the reception desk, as well as their own funds. But real purpose they serve for their shareholders is not true development (albeit by authoritarian or dictatorial methods), but rather the laundering of shady profits and transfer of money to secure hidden accounts. In such a state, everything gets turned upside down to the extent that the right of legitimate use of force is handed over by the police to thugs.
What happened on the Kornatsky farmland was a testing of the technology that will be used in 2015 during the presidential elections. The recipe is simple - the police do not intervene and do not interfere, as during the protest action on May 18 in Kyiv. On the contrary, people were dispersed on that day by unidentified "anti-fascists".
Observers during last autumn's parliamentary election were not ejected by 'Berkut' special forces but by muscular "journalists." Protocols of the election results were destroyed not by officials but by thieves who broke in through the window.
Security forces seem to cast a blind eye to all of these events. [Your blogger has been told by witnesses on the spot that this was indeed the case at disputed electoral constituency #223 in Kyiv.]
This technology is not new. In local elections in Mukacheve in 2004, bandit resources were employed by the Social Democratic Party when they clashed with supporters of the Baloha clan.
Use of skinheads and thugs in political conflicts is fraught with unpredictable consequences. When you are being attacked not the police but by a pack of thugs you are entitled to defend yourself and save your life by any means necessary. In this war is difficult to predict a winner. The opposition needs to be concerned not just about how to resist administrative pressure, but also bandit violence.
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Police again assembling thugs in Pervomaysk
Today's 'ord-ua' website runs another post by Volodymyr Boyko on latest developments in Chausove-2, where an agro-company linked to the son of the current presecutor-general of Ukraine, Artem Pshonka, and a close associate of president Yanukovych, Mykola Kruglov, have been waging a war with local farmers to seize their lands together with this summer's harvest.
[See my previous post on how 80 armed thugs were repelled by farmers and their families several days ago here ]
Below is a summary of Boyko's piece:
On June 22 2013 head of the Mykolaiv Oblast State Administration Mykola Kruglov held a broad-based meeting with representatives of the regional prosecutor's office, SBU and the MVD. The meeting was convened following the June 18 attack by an armed gang on the inhabitants of the village of Chausovo-2. The criminal gang was led by Oksana Valeshynska, a solicitor from Nikolaev, who, by these means tried to seize the fields of "Agrofirma Kornatskykh" and gather the harvest of barley grown by its farmers.
During the meeting Kruglov harshly criticized the deeds of Valeshynska and the head of Ukrainian Internal Affairs Administration in the Mykolaiv region, Valentina Persenyuk, who failed to accomplish their set task and rob the peasants.
A man of approximately 40 years of age who Kruglov called Ihor and introduced as a Kyiv authority [criminal authority] responsible for supplying the band of thugs, was particularly angry. In the words of Igor, Parsenyuk failed to organise a "Berkut" special forces unit to support the attackers in Pervomaysk. This allowed the farmers to resist the gangsters and call journalists and MPs for support. Because of this news agencies were able to quickly broadcast details of what was going on, and social networking site users were able to instantly identify the assailants.
Kruglov ordered the audience to take immediate decisive action to halt the activities of "Agrofirma Kornatskykh" next week - to commit armed attacks on other departments of the company, to rob stores, to stop trucks and to take away the grain which they are transporting. According Kruglov, all looted property should by convey to Vradiyivskiy elevator, whose managers have already received appropriate instructions.
Kruglov also presented a businessman, Yuriy Karapetovych Khahanyana, who will sell the stolen grain instead of Valeshynska because the latter did not inspire much confidence. The governor stressed that the proceeds will be divided "50-50": half for Yuriy Karapyetovich and half for us. Obviously, under the pronoun "us" Kruglov was referring to himself and the son of Prosecutor General of Ukraine, Artem Pshonka who the media regularly call organisers of the attempted seizure of "Agrofirma Kornatskykh."
Under the plan, which Kruglov plans to execute between 25 and 28 June, depending on weather, police are supposed to surround the area of the inevitable fighting, and not allow journalists and MPs into the fields.
According Kruglov, the plan, agreed with the Administration of the President, includes provision of "correct" media coverage by the "Inter" tv channel. Stooges have also been prepared to appear in broadcast material.
"The main thing, said Kruglov - do not let Kornatsky gather the harvest."
F.N. comment: The events in Chausove, Pervomaysk oblast have certainly been approved by the highest authorities in the land. Kruglov was appointed Mykolayiv governor by Yanukovych in March 2010, a few days after he become president; he was PM Azarov's deputy when the latter ran the State Tax Administration.
This is becoming a trial of strength which the authorities have decided they cannot lose...even though "Agrofirma Kornatskykh" employs over 15,000 loyal farmers who provided its boss Arkadiy Kornatsky with nearly 30,000 votes in last year's parliamentary elections. His victory was stolen from him.... In the eyes of the authorities he has dared to resist...he must be destroyed.
p.s. 15 minute news report with videos of the violent events that took place in Chausove on June 18 here . It is most apparent that numerous completely demoralised? law enforcement officers watched and did nothing as innocent victims were being assaulted by armed thugs...certainly aware that their police chiefs were co-organisers of this lawlessness.
Is this the picture of Ukraine Yanukovych and co. want to portray to possible outside investors?
[See my previous post on how 80 armed thugs were repelled by farmers and their families several days ago here ]
Below is a summary of Boyko's piece:
On June 22 2013 head of the Mykolaiv Oblast State Administration Mykola Kruglov held a broad-based meeting with representatives of the regional prosecutor's office, SBU and the MVD. The meeting was convened following the June 18 attack by an armed gang on the inhabitants of the village of Chausovo-2. The criminal gang was led by Oksana Valeshynska, a solicitor from Nikolaev, who, by these means tried to seize the fields of "Agrofirma Kornatskykh" and gather the harvest of barley grown by its farmers.
During the meeting Kruglov harshly criticized the deeds of Valeshynska and the head of Ukrainian Internal Affairs Administration in the Mykolaiv region, Valentina Persenyuk, who failed to accomplish their set task and rob the peasants.
A man of approximately 40 years of age who Kruglov called Ihor and introduced as a Kyiv authority [criminal authority] responsible for supplying the band of thugs, was particularly angry. In the words of Igor, Parsenyuk failed to organise a "Berkut" special forces unit to support the attackers in Pervomaysk. This allowed the farmers to resist the gangsters and call journalists and MPs for support. Because of this news agencies were able to quickly broadcast details of what was going on, and social networking site users were able to instantly identify the assailants.
Kruglov ordered the audience to take immediate decisive action to halt the activities of "Agrofirma Kornatskykh" next week - to commit armed attacks on other departments of the company, to rob stores, to stop trucks and to take away the grain which they are transporting. According Kruglov, all looted property should by convey to Vradiyivskiy elevator, whose managers have already received appropriate instructions.
Kruglov also presented a businessman, Yuriy Karapetovych Khahanyana, who will sell the stolen grain instead of Valeshynska because the latter did not inspire much confidence. The governor stressed that the proceeds will be divided "50-50": half for Yuriy Karapyetovich and half for us. Obviously, under the pronoun "us" Kruglov was referring to himself and the son of Prosecutor General of Ukraine, Artem Pshonka who the media regularly call organisers of the attempted seizure of "Agrofirma Kornatskykh."
Under the plan, which Kruglov plans to execute between 25 and 28 June, depending on weather, police are supposed to surround the area of the inevitable fighting, and not allow journalists and MPs into the fields.
According Kruglov, the plan, agreed with the Administration of the President, includes provision of "correct" media coverage by the "Inter" tv channel. Stooges have also been prepared to appear in broadcast material.
"The main thing, said Kruglov - do not let Kornatsky gather the harvest."
F.N. comment: The events in Chausove, Pervomaysk oblast have certainly been approved by the highest authorities in the land. Kruglov was appointed Mykolayiv governor by Yanukovych in March 2010, a few days after he become president; he was PM Azarov's deputy when the latter ran the State Tax Administration.
This is becoming a trial of strength which the authorities have decided they cannot lose...even though "Agrofirma Kornatskykh" employs over 15,000 loyal farmers who provided its boss Arkadiy Kornatsky with nearly 30,000 votes in last year's parliamentary elections. His victory was stolen from him.... In the eyes of the authorities he has dared to resist...he must be destroyed.
p.s. 15 minute news report with videos of the violent events that took place in Chausove on June 18 here . It is most apparent that numerous completely demoralised? law enforcement officers watched and did nothing as innocent victims were being assaulted by armed thugs...certainly aware that their police chiefs were co-organisers of this lawlessness.
Is this the picture of Ukraine Yanukovych and co. want to portray to possible outside investors?
Monday, June 24, 2013
Yats at Brookings - Leshchenko in London
Yatsenkyuk at the Brookings Institute - 1 Hour 20 Minute podcast here [Recommended - well worth listening to..]
=================================================================
Several months ago The London Ukrainian Institute offered a hearty welcome [lots of brown-nosing etc.] to ex president Viktor Yushchenko,
Yushchenko is the man who, as a prosecution witness, gave highly dubious testimony at Yulia Tymoshenko's 2010 trial. Yet without Tymoshenko's unqualified support during the Orange Revolution it is most unlikely Yushchenko would ever have become president.
One of the reasons why many of Ukraine's leaders are held in such low esteem is because of their blatant, widely recognised, politically motivated persecution of political opposition leaders like Tymoshenko ....aided and abetted, of course, by Yushchenko himself..
In a few day's time "Ukraine’s leading investigative journalist" Serhiy Leshchenko is to present his new book "The American saga of Pavlo Lazarenko" at the London Ukrainian Institute.
According to the London Ukrainian Institute's website:
"Sergii [sic.] Leshchenko is a leading Ukrainian investigative journalist and Civil Society activist. He specialises in anti-corruption investigations and political issues, and is renowned for his articles published in Ukraine’s most popular online publication Ukrainska Pravda. He has carried out journalistic investigations into the incumbent Ukrainian President’s lifestyle and financial interests of the ‘new Ukrainian elite’. "
A few years ago, during a press conference, Leshchenko asked the-then pres. Yushchenko a question about his son's spoilt brat Andriy's frequent boorish, antisocial behaviour. The president gave Leshchenko a humiliating public dressing down and called him "a killer".
I hope somebody at the London Ukrainian Institute asks prize-winning journalist Leshchenko what he thinks of Yushchenko....
=================================================================
Several months ago The London Ukrainian Institute offered a hearty welcome [lots of brown-nosing etc.] to ex president Viktor Yushchenko,
Yushchenko is the man who, as a prosecution witness, gave highly dubious testimony at Yulia Tymoshenko's 2010 trial. Yet without Tymoshenko's unqualified support during the Orange Revolution it is most unlikely Yushchenko would ever have become president.
One of the reasons why many of Ukraine's leaders are held in such low esteem is because of their blatant, widely recognised, politically motivated persecution of political opposition leaders like Tymoshenko ....aided and abetted, of course, by Yushchenko himself..
In a few day's time "Ukraine’s leading investigative journalist" Serhiy Leshchenko is to present his new book "The American saga of Pavlo Lazarenko" at the London Ukrainian Institute.
According to the London Ukrainian Institute's website:
"Sergii [sic.] Leshchenko is a leading Ukrainian investigative journalist and Civil Society activist. He specialises in anti-corruption investigations and political issues, and is renowned for his articles published in Ukraine’s most popular online publication Ukrainska Pravda. He has carried out journalistic investigations into the incumbent Ukrainian President’s lifestyle and financial interests of the ‘new Ukrainian elite’. "
A few years ago, during a press conference, Leshchenko asked the-then pres. Yushchenko a question about his son's spoilt brat Andriy's frequent boorish, antisocial behaviour. The president gave Leshchenko a humiliating public dressing down and called him "a killer".
I hope somebody at the London Ukrainian Institute asks prize-winning journalist Leshchenko what he thinks of Yushchenko....
Sunday, June 23, 2013
Yulka's choice,,,and Yanukovych's choice
Vitaliy Pornikov, in an interesting newsru.ua comment, ponders over the recent visit of German Foreign Minister Westerwelle to Ukraine.
Until now the German government's position on the imprisonment of Yulia Tymoshenko has been most firm - in their eyes it is a clear case of selective justice which hinders Ukraine's efforts for closer Euro-integration.
Westerwelle's visit could be an indication that Yanukovych may be reconsidering his position on Tymoshenko, and may even possibly agree to allow his mortal foe to be released for medical treatment in Germany.
In order for all participants to save face, (Germany having already agreed to take Tymoshenko), the optimum option would be for Yanukovych to agree to her relocation, and for Tymoshenko herself to agree to go along with this.
She has a big decision to make - only she really knows how bad her medical condition is - how desperately she needs treatment; whether she will have greater influence on Ukrainian politics locked up in a closed hospital ward or prison cell in Ukraine, or from abroad.
If she refuses to go in spite of a possible humanitarian gesture from Yanukovych, faces will still be saved - the Ukrainian president would be more than happy if he makes the gesture but Tymoshenko refused to go. As Portnikov says, he will still have the bird in the cage, and the Association Agreement in his locker.
But Yanukovych is beginning to realise that if he refuses, it could be political suicide. If this were not the case Guido Westerwelle would not have been visiting Kyiv.
F.N. thinks releasing Tymoshenko would grate every instinct of a man with the criminal background of Yanukovych..never...ever give your enemy a second chance...An unshackled Tymoshenko becomes master of her own fate again...no longer under his control...she has already brought down the last two Ukrainian presidents to their knees...
Until now the German government's position on the imprisonment of Yulia Tymoshenko has been most firm - in their eyes it is a clear case of selective justice which hinders Ukraine's efforts for closer Euro-integration.
Westerwelle's visit could be an indication that Yanukovych may be reconsidering his position on Tymoshenko, and may even possibly agree to allow his mortal foe to be released for medical treatment in Germany.
In order for all participants to save face, (Germany having already agreed to take Tymoshenko), the optimum option would be for Yanukovych to agree to her relocation, and for Tymoshenko herself to agree to go along with this.
She has a big decision to make - only she really knows how bad her medical condition is - how desperately she needs treatment; whether she will have greater influence on Ukrainian politics locked up in a closed hospital ward or prison cell in Ukraine, or from abroad.
If she refuses to go in spite of a possible humanitarian gesture from Yanukovych, faces will still be saved - the Ukrainian president would be more than happy if he makes the gesture but Tymoshenko refused to go. As Portnikov says, he will still have the bird in the cage, and the Association Agreement in his locker.
But Yanukovych is beginning to realise that if he refuses, it could be political suicide. If this were not the case Guido Westerwelle would not have been visiting Kyiv.
F.N. thinks releasing Tymoshenko would grate every instinct of a man with the criminal background of Yanukovych..never...ever give your enemy a second chance...An unshackled Tymoshenko becomes master of her own fate again...no longer under his control...she has already brought down the last two Ukrainian presidents to their knees...
Gangster state
In my previous blog I described how a company linked to prosecutor-general of Ukraine Viktor Pshonka and his son Artem, had sent 80 hired thugs to seize the property belonging to Mykolayiv-based 'Agrofirma Kornatskykh' agro-company.
The owner of the company, Arkadiy Kornyatsky, was cheated of victory in last autumn's parliamentary elections in the disputed Election Commission constituency number 132 in Pervomaysk. Bands of thugs violently disrupted the election count which was so fraudulent that it was belatedly declared unsatisfactory.
Veteran independent journalist, Volodymyr Boyko, who has featured in many of my previous blogs, provides many details [here and here] of the brazenly diabolical scheme cooked up by the Pshonkas to seize 1700 ha of this prime farmland.
They also tried to steal this year's harvest planted and tended by the Kornatsky company, which has now farmed the land for over a decade and a half.
'Partner Agro', the company behind the pirate raid, were registered last year in the name of a minor Mykolayiv lawyer. Previously, Artem Pshonka via his 'kum' [a godfather of his children] had several times tried to buy out 50% of 'Agrofirma Kornatskykh' from its owner, but when they refused to sell, the Pshonka's devised a despicable scheme to take over all of the land.
By manipulation of various land ownership/rent schemes they divided up the land into 2 ha plots and attempted to cobble together and organise 775 declarations from individuals supposedly prepared to farm each individual small plot. 'Partner Agro' would then take over each of these 775 plots and gain control of the entire farmland.
In order to do this, they rounded up local civil servants, staff at the regional medical centre, library workers etc. and forced them to fill in application forms even though most of them had absolutely no interest in becoming smallholders. They allegedly received 1,500 Hryven for their signatures on the necessary documentation.
When the organisers were unable to gather the required number of application forms in time they resorted to banal forgery using names and addresses from tax data bases, and even used names at random with no address. All these applications were then packed off to the local land registry offices.
When the people whose names figured as new tenants of the small individual plots were sent documents informing them that as smallholders they would no longer be able to benefit from state welfare payments, and that they would have to pay rent, they were outraged that they had been taken advantage of. Many were not even aware their names had been used in the fraudulent scheme.
Their appeals and protests made to local law enforcement bodies and local courts were all but ignored as soon as these institutions became aware who was behind the machinations..
In his article Boyko claims the head of the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs Administration in the Mykolayiv oblast himself hired the 80 or so thugs who attempted to raid the 'Agrofirma Kornatskykh' agro-company last week in Chausove-2. The nominee head of 'Partner Agro' allegedly supplied the weaponry used by them. These were later discovered in her automobile.
Several of the hired thugs were detained, but were released having been charged with the minor charge of 'hooliganism' even though they had been hired from several cities and had figured in other 'raids' elsewhere and had inflicted serious wounds to several victims. Later these victims were allegedly kicked out of hospital in an attempt to 'whitewash' the mass assaults that had taken place.
Yanukovych and the Pshonkas go back a long way. Yanuk is 37-year old Artem's godfather...
Parliamentary deputy Artem is now deputy head of PoR's parliamentary fraction...
Can there be any better evidence that Ukraine has now become a gangster state?
p.s. Boyko has written a book about how Pshonka and co. had previously seized a granite quarry in Mykolayiv...its owner was killed...More on this story when it becomes available on the ord-ua.com website.
p.p.s.
The owner of the company, Arkadiy Kornyatsky, was cheated of victory in last autumn's parliamentary elections in the disputed Election Commission constituency number 132 in Pervomaysk. Bands of thugs violently disrupted the election count which was so fraudulent that it was belatedly declared unsatisfactory.
Veteran independent journalist, Volodymyr Boyko, who has featured in many of my previous blogs, provides many details [here and here] of the brazenly diabolical scheme cooked up by the Pshonkas to seize 1700 ha of this prime farmland.
They also tried to steal this year's harvest planted and tended by the Kornatsky company, which has now farmed the land for over a decade and a half.
'Partner Agro', the company behind the pirate raid, were registered last year in the name of a minor Mykolayiv lawyer. Previously, Artem Pshonka via his 'kum' [a godfather of his children] had several times tried to buy out 50% of 'Agrofirma Kornatskykh' from its owner, but when they refused to sell, the Pshonka's devised a despicable scheme to take over all of the land.
By manipulation of various land ownership/rent schemes they divided up the land into 2 ha plots and attempted to cobble together and organise 775 declarations from individuals supposedly prepared to farm each individual small plot. 'Partner Agro' would then take over each of these 775 plots and gain control of the entire farmland.
In order to do this, they rounded up local civil servants, staff at the regional medical centre, library workers etc. and forced them to fill in application forms even though most of them had absolutely no interest in becoming smallholders. They allegedly received 1,500 Hryven for their signatures on the necessary documentation.
When the organisers were unable to gather the required number of application forms in time they resorted to banal forgery using names and addresses from tax data bases, and even used names at random with no address. All these applications were then packed off to the local land registry offices.
When the people whose names figured as new tenants of the small individual plots were sent documents informing them that as smallholders they would no longer be able to benefit from state welfare payments, and that they would have to pay rent, they were outraged that they had been taken advantage of. Many were not even aware their names had been used in the fraudulent scheme.
Their appeals and protests made to local law enforcement bodies and local courts were all but ignored as soon as these institutions became aware who was behind the machinations..
In his article Boyko claims the head of the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs Administration in the Mykolayiv oblast himself hired the 80 or so thugs who attempted to raid the 'Agrofirma Kornatskykh' agro-company last week in Chausove-2. The nominee head of 'Partner Agro' allegedly supplied the weaponry used by them. These were later discovered in her automobile.
Several of the hired thugs were detained, but were released having been charged with the minor charge of 'hooliganism' even though they had been hired from several cities and had figured in other 'raids' elsewhere and had inflicted serious wounds to several victims. Later these victims were allegedly kicked out of hospital in an attempt to 'whitewash' the mass assaults that had taken place.
Yanukovych and the Pshonkas go back a long way. Yanuk is 37-year old Artem's godfather...
Parliamentary deputy Artem is now deputy head of PoR's parliamentary fraction...
Can there be any better evidence that Ukraine has now become a gangster state?
p.s. Boyko has written a book about how Pshonka and co. had previously seized a granite quarry in Mykolayiv...its owner was killed...More on this story when it becomes available on the ord-ua.com website.
p.p.s.
Pictured above: Viktor Pshona's and Viktor Yanukovych's wives. The former allegedly uses the same hairdresser as Donald Trump. [check this out ;-)
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
The pirates return...
Last November I blogged about how V.R. deputy Artem Pshonka, son of current Prosecutor-General Viktor Pshonka, was trying to seize the Mykolayiv-based 'Agrofirma Kornatskykh' agro-company by the dirtiest of means. 'ORD' website call Pshonka Jr. 'raider No.1 in Ukraine'.
The owner of the company, Arkadiy Kornyatsky, was cheated of victory in last autumn's parliamentary elections in the disputed Election Commission constituency number 132 in Pervomaysk. There was serious trouble there and Kornyatsky was forced to flee abroad for a while.
The dispute has now escalated further. Today about 80 thugs, some firing pneumatic weapons, tried to take over the disputed agro-company's premises in the village of Chausove-2 but were beaten back.
At least five people were seriously injured. [Videos here]
Well-known lawyer and civil rights lawyer, Tetyana Montyan, has stated that the company "Partner-Agro", which is attempting to seize the 'Agrofirma Kornatskykh's property, was formed and registered in order to do this by fraudulent means and is under control of the son of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine Artem Pshonka.
She provides documentary evidence of what she calls a major raider scheme in her blog here .
Veteran investigative journalist Volodymyr Boyko, in a television appearance, claimed that
the organizers and sponsors were known to him - they were Prosecutor General of Ukraine Viktor Pshonka and his son - Artem Pshonka....
During the raid, police were nowhere to be seen, but there were reports they had assisted the raiders' column of combine harvesters approach the site.
In response, the governor of Mykolayiv oblast, Yanukovych-appointed Mykola Kruglov, claims the company no longer belongs to the Kornyatsky's. If this is the case, why the piratical, violent raid? Why not use legal means to regain control?
This saga 'has legs' and will run and run...
How can the EU sign any Association Agreement with Ukraine while these kind of events, of which there are many - some involving the highest in the land, continue to take place? Who is going to invest in Ukaine's big hope for the future - its agro-industry?
The owner of the company, Arkadiy Kornyatsky, was cheated of victory in last autumn's parliamentary elections in the disputed Election Commission constituency number 132 in Pervomaysk. There was serious trouble there and Kornyatsky was forced to flee abroad for a while.
The dispute has now escalated further. Today about 80 thugs, some firing pneumatic weapons, tried to take over the disputed agro-company's premises in the village of Chausove-2 but were beaten back.
At least five people were seriously injured. [Videos here]
Well-known lawyer and civil rights lawyer, Tetyana Montyan, has stated that the company "Partner-Agro", which is attempting to seize the 'Agrofirma Kornatskykh's property, was formed and registered in order to do this by fraudulent means and is under control of the son of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine Artem Pshonka.
She provides documentary evidence of what she calls a major raider scheme in her blog here .
Veteran investigative journalist Volodymyr Boyko, in a television appearance, claimed that
the organizers and sponsors were known to him - they were Prosecutor General of Ukraine Viktor Pshonka and his son - Artem Pshonka....
During the raid, police were nowhere to be seen, but there were reports they had assisted the raiders' column of combine harvesters approach the site.
In response, the governor of Mykolayiv oblast, Yanukovych-appointed Mykola Kruglov, claims the company no longer belongs to the Kornyatsky's. If this is the case, why the piratical, violent raid? Why not use legal means to regain control?
This saga 'has legs' and will run and run...
How can the EU sign any Association Agreement with Ukraine while these kind of events, of which there are many - some involving the highest in the land, continue to take place? Who is going to invest in Ukaine's big hope for the future - its agro-industry?
Saturday, June 08, 2013
EU correct to insist Ukraine smartens up before signing AA
Ever the apologist, Adrian Karatnycky considers the EU is making a mistake by making the signing of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement conditional on the release of imprisoned former PM Yulia Tymoshenko.
Yulia Tymoshenko, as any Ukrainian citizen, is entitled to fair treatment and a fair trial.
The European Court of Human Rights have already declared her rights have been violated - she was wrongfully detained before her 2011 trial for 'exceeding her powers' as PM.
The ECHR are now determining whether her human rights were abused during the trial itself.
Whilst the undisputed leader of the political opposition in Ukraine finds herself in this situation a big question mark hangs over Ukraine's democratic credentials.
Until such time that Tymoshenko's guilt in any crimes is clearly shown to be 'beyond reasonable doubt' in the eyes of European observers, her persecution will be considered politically motived.
The risible evidence presented so far in pre-trial hearings which prosecutors claim link Tymoshenko to the murder of Yevhen Shcherban over a decade and a half ago only hardens these observers' opinion - the opposition leader is being persecuted for political reasons.
As such, few European leaders will support signing of an AA with Ukraine, particularly as all of Ukraine's present and past leaders and their pals, have very shady past histories and continue to abuse their status.... stealing millions....
p.s Even if Tymoshenko will be allowed to travel to another country, probably Germany, for medical treatment, as ever-stronger rumours indicate, there is no sign Ukraine's slide into authoritarianism would slow down. Clinching the AA deal will make little difference... Yanukovych's thuggish insistence Tymoshenko pays a 1.6Bn Hryven 'fine' and declines to take any further part in Ukrainian politics in order to buy her release will make western leaders squirm..Does Yanukovych seriously believe that any western politician would undertake to broker and guarantee such a deal? If so, the man is seriously out of touch with reality.
Yulia Tymoshenko, as any Ukrainian citizen, is entitled to fair treatment and a fair trial.
The European Court of Human Rights have already declared her rights have been violated - she was wrongfully detained before her 2011 trial for 'exceeding her powers' as PM.
The ECHR are now determining whether her human rights were abused during the trial itself.
Whilst the undisputed leader of the political opposition in Ukraine finds herself in this situation a big question mark hangs over Ukraine's democratic credentials.
Until such time that Tymoshenko's guilt in any crimes is clearly shown to be 'beyond reasonable doubt' in the eyes of European observers, her persecution will be considered politically motived.
The risible evidence presented so far in pre-trial hearings which prosecutors claim link Tymoshenko to the murder of Yevhen Shcherban over a decade and a half ago only hardens these observers' opinion - the opposition leader is being persecuted for political reasons.
As such, few European leaders will support signing of an AA with Ukraine, particularly as all of Ukraine's present and past leaders and their pals, have very shady past histories and continue to abuse their status.... stealing millions....
p.s Even if Tymoshenko will be allowed to travel to another country, probably Germany, for medical treatment, as ever-stronger rumours indicate, there is no sign Ukraine's slide into authoritarianism would slow down. Clinching the AA deal will make little difference... Yanukovych's thuggish insistence Tymoshenko pays a 1.6Bn Hryven 'fine' and declines to take any further part in Ukrainian politics in order to buy her release will make western leaders squirm..Does Yanukovych seriously believe that any western politician would undertake to broker and guarantee such a deal? If so, the man is seriously out of touch with reality.
Sunday, June 02, 2013
Credibility of court of last resort destroyed
Last week Ukraine's Constitutional Court ruled that the elections for Kyiv Mayor and Council can now be postponed until October 2015.
Yanukovych and Party of Regions' are totally aware that if already-postponed elections were to take place any time in the near future they would be 'hammered' in the capital, and vast corruption schemes would pass into the hands of others. Defeat in Kyiv would be a watershed event and Yanukovych's chance of re-election in 2015 would be much diminished.
In April 2010, just after Yanukovych became president, the Constitutional Court controversially fiddled the rules, specifically concerning so-called 'Imperative Mandate provisions', on how parliamentary majorities were to be formed. This allowed the orange parliamentary coalition to be dumped and Yulia Tymoshenko to be dismissed as PM. The ruling was at odds with Courts previous ruling and the wording of Ukraine's Constitution itself.
In October 2010, the Ukrainian Constitutional Court repealed a December 2004 law which introduced a constitutional amendment changing the system of government from a presidential-parliamentary to a parliamentary-presidential one. President Yanukovych's authority was greatly enhanced.
Last week's ruling, perhaps the most controversial of all, yet again proves the Constitutional Court has become a puppet court controlled by Yanukovych and his cronies.
As Vitaliy Pornikov points out in his blog:
"In our country, no-one has any confidence in the Constitutional Court, and cannot have, because we all understand this is not a Constitutional Court, but just another department in the presidential administration.
This department is vitally important - Viktor Yanukovych owes his powers to it, Mykola Azarov his premiership, and Alexander Popov [the current acting mayor] - his control of an unelected administration in Kyiv. It was the Constitutional Court, not the voters, and not even members of parliament who gave them this power.
The Court makes crucial decisions for the country, but does not possess any credibility with its citizens - and that's frightening. Frightening because, even in a society so degraded from the point of view of the law, the Constitutional Court should be a credible Court of the Last Resort.
p.s. Opinion is hardening in the EU that without a solution to the Tymoshenko problem there can be no signing of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement in November.
One noted analyst claims: 'For most countries of the EU the groundless imprisonment of Tymoshenko is a red line which they will not cross..'
There are significant behind-the-scenes negotiations going on. According to the Polish 'Gazeta Wyborcza' a compromise could be struck if Tymoshenko were to be dispatched from her hospital ward/prison cell to Germany for medical treatment, but the former PM rules out such a possibility unless all criminal charges against her are dropped and the criminal conviction against her for exceeding her powers is nullified.
Yanukovych and Party of Regions' are totally aware that if already-postponed elections were to take place any time in the near future they would be 'hammered' in the capital, and vast corruption schemes would pass into the hands of others. Defeat in Kyiv would be a watershed event and Yanukovych's chance of re-election in 2015 would be much diminished.
In April 2010, just after Yanukovych became president, the Constitutional Court controversially fiddled the rules, specifically concerning so-called 'Imperative Mandate provisions', on how parliamentary majorities were to be formed. This allowed the orange parliamentary coalition to be dumped and Yulia Tymoshenko to be dismissed as PM. The ruling was at odds with Courts previous ruling and the wording of Ukraine's Constitution itself.
In October 2010, the Ukrainian Constitutional Court repealed a December 2004 law which introduced a constitutional amendment changing the system of government from a presidential-parliamentary to a parliamentary-presidential one. President Yanukovych's authority was greatly enhanced.
Last week's ruling, perhaps the most controversial of all, yet again proves the Constitutional Court has become a puppet court controlled by Yanukovych and his cronies.
As Vitaliy Pornikov points out in his blog:
"In our country, no-one has any confidence in the Constitutional Court, and cannot have, because we all understand this is not a Constitutional Court, but just another department in the presidential administration.
This department is vitally important - Viktor Yanukovych owes his powers to it, Mykola Azarov his premiership, and Alexander Popov [the current acting mayor] - his control of an unelected administration in Kyiv. It was the Constitutional Court, not the voters, and not even members of parliament who gave them this power.
The Court makes crucial decisions for the country, but does not possess any credibility with its citizens - and that's frightening. Frightening because, even in a society so degraded from the point of view of the law, the Constitutional Court should be a credible Court of the Last Resort.
p.s. Opinion is hardening in the EU that without a solution to the Tymoshenko problem there can be no signing of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement in November.
One noted analyst claims: 'For most countries of the EU the groundless imprisonment of Tymoshenko is a red line which they will not cross..'
There are significant behind-the-scenes negotiations going on. According to the Polish 'Gazeta Wyborcza' a compromise could be struck if Tymoshenko were to be dispatched from her hospital ward/prison cell to Germany for medical treatment, but the former PM rules out such a possibility unless all criminal charges against her are dropped and the criminal conviction against her for exceeding her powers is nullified.
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
Unjust treatment of journalists will continue to be opposed
In April three Party of Regions' deputies - Iryna Berezhna, Yulia Lyovochkin and Iryna Horin were pelted with snowballs. Enraged 'Regionals' demanded minister of the interior, Vitaliy Zakharchenko get to the bottom of the incident, round up as many witnesses as possible for questioning, and arrest suspects.
The next day the police obtained mobile phone numbers from mobile phone operators of everyone who was near the scene of the incident. In the weeks that followed, investigators 'invited' them all in for questioning.
Ironically, one of those whose mobile phone was 'clocked' was well known journalist Olha Snitsarchuk. Even though she explained that she had been inside the parliament building when the snowball incident occurred and so saw nothing, it was made clear that she 'needed co-operate' and she was hauled in to give a statement.
Ironically, exactly one month later it was Olga herself who was beaten up during pro and anti government rallies just over a week ago, whilst police officers passively looked on.
As I posted previously, there is a mass of video and other evidence that thugs linked to Party of Regions led the nasty attack on the journalist and her colleague. Despite this, after Zakharchenko's disgraceful performance in parliament [see previous blog] it is unlikely the perpetrators will be properly dealt with by law enforcement officials.
The snowball incident, [during which no serious injuries were sustained,] was turned into a massive crime and many many dozens of people were questioned and/or detained.
In his blog describing this matter, Mustafa Nayem writes:
"The feeling of powerlessness and humiliation experienced by my [journalist] colleagues, is, every day and every minute also experienced by millions of other Ukrainians.
Not because they are being hit and sworn at. But because, with the advent of the current authorities, malevolence, rudeness and animal instincts are increasing winning [the day].
All this is occurring not just openly and demonstratively; but is accompanied with a silent grin by a party which is cultivating total permissiveness based on the rights of greater force.
If it is not stopped, there will be war. But not over slogans, not over parties and not over language. But over [the right for] basic human dignity."
Today journalists continue their fight for justice...
The next day the police obtained mobile phone numbers from mobile phone operators of everyone who was near the scene of the incident. In the weeks that followed, investigators 'invited' them all in for questioning.
Ironically, one of those whose mobile phone was 'clocked' was well known journalist Olha Snitsarchuk. Even though she explained that she had been inside the parliament building when the snowball incident occurred and so saw nothing, it was made clear that she 'needed co-operate' and she was hauled in to give a statement.
Ironically, exactly one month later it was Olga herself who was beaten up during pro and anti government rallies just over a week ago, whilst police officers passively looked on.
As I posted previously, there is a mass of video and other evidence that thugs linked to Party of Regions led the nasty attack on the journalist and her colleague. Despite this, after Zakharchenko's disgraceful performance in parliament [see previous blog] it is unlikely the perpetrators will be properly dealt with by law enforcement officials.
The snowball incident, [during which no serious injuries were sustained,] was turned into a massive crime and many many dozens of people were questioned and/or detained.
In his blog describing this matter, Mustafa Nayem writes:
"The feeling of powerlessness and humiliation experienced by my [journalist] colleagues, is, every day and every minute also experienced by millions of other Ukrainians.
Not because they are being hit and sworn at. But because, with the advent of the current authorities, malevolence, rudeness and animal instincts are increasing winning [the day].
All this is occurring not just openly and demonstratively; but is accompanied with a silent grin by a party which is cultivating total permissiveness based on the rights of greater force.
If it is not stopped, there will be war. But not over slogans, not over parties and not over language. But over [the right for] basic human dignity."
Today journalists continue their fight for justice...
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Another landmark on the road to authoritarianism
On May 21 minister of the interior Vitaliy Zakharchenko stood on the podium of parliament to report on events surrounding two protest rallies, one pro-government and anti-government, that simultaneously took place in Kyiv the previous Saturday.
A mass of independently gathered video evidence indisputably shows that several dozen thugs/sportsmen who earlier in the day had been acting as 'security' during the pro-government rally where later involved in a violent assault on two journalists whilst numerous policemen passively watched on.
At the same time several anti-government 'Spilna Sprava' activists were surrounded by a many dozens of 'Berkut' riot police and brutally man-handled for pitching several tiny tents on Sofia square [video here]
There is credible photographic evidence that Zakharchenko, the country's top policeman, observed, and probably coordinated events on that day from the top of a tall hotel building.
Police actively co-operated with provocateurs who tried to drive a military personnel carrier-type vehicle decorated in provocative symbols [namely, a rabbit skull with crossed carrots] into the square where the opposition-organised 'Arise Ukraine' rally was taking place. [Opposition leader Arsen Yatsenyuk is sometimes called 'the rabbit']
Furthermore the same thugs who assaulted the journalists were seen cordially discussing their days work with 'Berkut' 'space-cadets' before they were allowed to go their own way. These guys are well known and have figured in other situations e.g. during the previous election campaign when 'heads needed to be knocked'. They are known to train in police sports facilities.
Zakharchenko, in total contradiction to the video evidence, pitched an entirely different story in parliament - producing a complete pack of lies, laying the blame for the assault on the opposition..
Zakharchenko was for many many years high-ranking law enforcement officer. He knows in his heart of hearts he has lied to the country to cover for the misdeeds of his patron, Viktor Yanukovych. He knows the police are actively collaborating with mindless thugs. The man is now completely discredited.
Since becoming president there have been many landmark events on Ukraine's slide into authoritarianism. Yesterday was just the latest.
p.s. Note to European politicians: It's not going to get better - the Ukrainian version of 'Lukashenisation' is well under way....and will be resisted...it will not be pretty.
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Yanukovych thugs reveal true face of PoR
On Friday 12th April the 'Arise Ukraine!' demonstration in Kharkiv organised by the three main Ukrainian opposition parties was seriously impeded by last-minute local court orders banning the demonstration, and by dozens upon dozens of public transport vehicles parked nose to tail to block the rally's passage through city streets. Numerous road works and associated traffic diversions were mysteriously commissioned by the city's authorities and sprung up overnight around the city centre. Kharkiv was practically paralysed for the entire day as a result.
On Saturday 18th April the 'Arise Ukraine' demonstration in Kyiv was also seriously impeded. Many participants were prevented from travelling to the capital. They were denied tickets for public transport, their vehicles stopped, people were thrown of trains, private bus companies pressurised, etc. etc.
Party of Regions organised an anti-fascist counter-demonstration on this Saturday. A gang of known thugs assaulted journalists whilst police special forces impassively looked on. A provocatively decorated military armoured vehicle was permitted to drive along blocked-off streets escorted by traffic police into opposition demonstrators.
The three main opposition parties, all of whom are well represented in parliament, have every constitutional right to stage peaceful public meetings without harassment or hindrance.
The ruling authorities are making great efforts to scupper such meetings. The use of organised thugs whose actions are all but ignored by law enforcement agencies is truly disturbing.
There are no grounds to believe that the ruling authorities will in any way change their attitude to their political opponents and such discriminatory anti-opposition campaigns, and probably much worse, will reoccur in the run-up to the 2015 presidential elections.
European countries pondering whether to go ahead with November's scheduled signing of the EU/Ukraine Association Agreement will take note and will not be impressed by the ruling authorities' ridiculously over-the-top response to not particularly impressive opposition demonstrations.
On Saturday 18th April the 'Arise Ukraine' demonstration in Kyiv was also seriously impeded. Many participants were prevented from travelling to the capital. They were denied tickets for public transport, their vehicles stopped, people were thrown of trains, private bus companies pressurised, etc. etc.
Party of Regions organised an anti-fascist counter-demonstration on this Saturday. A gang of known thugs assaulted journalists whilst police special forces impassively looked on. A provocatively decorated military armoured vehicle was permitted to drive along blocked-off streets escorted by traffic police into opposition demonstrators.
The three main opposition parties, all of whom are well represented in parliament, have every constitutional right to stage peaceful public meetings without harassment or hindrance.
The ruling authorities are making great efforts to scupper such meetings. The use of organised thugs whose actions are all but ignored by law enforcement agencies is truly disturbing.
There are no grounds to believe that the ruling authorities will in any way change their attitude to their political opponents and such discriminatory anti-opposition campaigns, and probably much worse, will reoccur in the run-up to the 2015 presidential elections.
European countries pondering whether to go ahead with November's scheduled signing of the EU/Ukraine Association Agreement will take note and will not be impressed by the ruling authorities' ridiculously over-the-top response to not particularly impressive opposition demonstrations.
Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Yanuk just a responsible for high gas prices as Tymoshenko
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Leonid Kozhara complained during his visit to London today that in 2009 PM Tymoshenko struck a ruinous deal to buy Russian gas at an excessively high price harmful to Ukraine's interests, and therefore her seven year jail sentence for abuse of office was justified.
In 2010, instead of starting afresh, President Yanukovych signed a treaty between Ukraine and Russia whereby the Russian lease on naval facilities in Crimea was extended by 25 years in exchange for what Yanukovych claimed was a healthy discount on Russian natural gas. The contract was entirely based on Tymoshenko's 2009 deal.
The 2010 naval-base-for-cheaper-gas treaty merely added legitimacy to the 2009 Tymoshenko deal, struck under great duress during that year's gas crisis when half of Europe was being starved of gas.
Yanukovych is therefore just as culpable for the high price Ukraine currently continues to pay for Russian gas as Tymoshenko.
Her persecution is entirely politically motivated.
p.s.
There seems to be a dichotomy of opinion on the chances that an Association Agreement will be signed between the EU and Ukraine in November in Vilnius.
According to today's 'Daily Telegraph': "..there is limited appetite for letting the [Tymoshenko] matter prevent Ukraine signing the association agreement and free trade pact, partly because of fears that it would drive the former Soviet republic further back into Russia's sphere of influence. Poland and Sweden have already made it clear that they want the agreement to be signed, while British diplomats are understood to believe it [Tymoshenko's imprisonment] should not be a sticking point other."
Yet in the conclusion to their interview with Leonid Kozhara, 'Radio Svoboda' declare: "the British government has made it clear to the Ukrainian side it sees a problem."
When prompted by the Radio Liberty correspondent to evaluate the likelihood of a successful signing of the AA agreement in Vilnius, 'experts' in London claimed that chances were 5-10%. and not 50%.
One would think the 'Daily Telegraph' would have good links with the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office, no?
In their joint statement the British and Ukrainian foreign ministers make no mention of 'the woman'...but there again, "frank and wide-ranging discussion" in diplo-speak means heated and possibly even bad tempered conversation..
Completed investigation will be completed....soon?
In mid-January this year Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Viktor Pshonka officially declared that prosecutors had completed their investigation into the murder of Deputy Yevgen Sherban, who was shot dead nearly 17 years ago.
Yulia Tymoshenko was officially named as a suspect in the crime. Preliminary trial proceedings soon followed, and are still proceeding.
Today Pshonka's deputy, the odious Renat Kuzmin confirmed that investigation on the case had stopped on April 26...but would again be resumed after today.
The case against Tymoshenko is being investigated, and will be completed, said Kuzmin.
The prosecution service are running around like headless chickens.
What is going on? In a nutshell, after his killing the late Yevhen Shcherban's assets were immediately 'divvied up' amongst his so-called business associates, who now figure amongst the richest in the country. Shcheban's position in Ukrainian politics was rapidly taken over by Yanukovych. These people have instructed prosecutors to pin the blame onto the one they consider to be their greatest enemy - Yulia Tymoshenko. Problem is, there is no case....there is nothing to investigate...
Prosecutors, under pressure from those who gained plenty from Shcherban's death, are trying to kick into life a long-dead corpse..
Sunday, May 12, 2013
Will Kirichenko show up on the 15th? [Monday update]
Last month I wrote that the key prosecution witness, Petro Kirichenko, who now resides in the USA under a witness protection program, was scheduled to testify for the prosecution in the pre-trial hearing ahead of the Yevhen Shcherban murder trial. Former PM Yulia Tymoshenko is an official suspect in this crime.
Kirichenko was to provide evidence via video link from California, but his appearance was postponed until May 15, supposedly at the request of the Ukrainian consul in San Francisco for unspecified, 'technical reasons'. There have since been several unsubstantiated reports that Kirichenko simply got 'cold feet' and failed to turn up on the day.
This man has a highly dubious past. Here are some highlights [source]:
Born in Makiyivka, Donetsk oblast - 1952. Worked as trade representative in Hungary and Poland in Soviet times. Set up his own business in 1989 - knew Pavlo Lazarenko since 1986
In 1990 set up 'AgroPostachBut' but three years later allegedly had his 'arm twisted' and was forced to go '50-50' with Lazarenko, who was an oblast governor at the time. Kirichenko allegedly held a secret grudge against Lazarenko ever since.
Kirichenko spent much time in Poland and considered emigrating to the USA where he set up 'ABS Trading'.
In the summer of '95 Kirichenko was arrested in Poland after alleged being linked to a murder and illegal possession of a firearm. But heavy pressure from Lazarenko, by then a cabinet minister, enabled Kirichenko to be released on bail by Polish authorities, after spending a month behind bars.
Kirichenko skipped bail and flew to the USA to apply for permanent residence in that country. He fiddled his application and exaggerated 'ABS Trading's turn-over by many times. He included Lazarenko's ill-gotten money to inflate the figures. He also 'forgot to mention' his then-recent problems in Poland..
In 1999 he was arrested and detained in California at the request of Swiss authorities who were investigating his and Lazarenko's money laundering activities in their country. Kirichenko was involved with setting up intermediary companies to help Lazarenko 'divert' huge sums to which he had access to when he held high office.
In December 1999, having spent half a year sharing a jail cell with Lazarenko, Kirichenko decided to turn state's evidence against his former partner...as a result he was released from his prison cell and placed under house arrest.
In May 2000 he received immunity from prosecution and the right to naturalisation in the USA having pleaded guilty to lesser crimes and paying a $3 million fine.
Subsequently Lazarenko was found guilty of money laundering and corruption and sentenced eventually, to nine years in prison.
Although the prosecution have high hopes for Kirichenko in the Shcherban murder trial, until recently he had never linked Tymoshenko to Schcherban's killing whenever he was questioned by investigators. But he did claim, in 2001, that in 1995 Lazarenko asked him to get in touch with a criminal capo Milchenko a.k.a. 'Matros' to provide protection for Tymoshenko, whose life had apparently been considered to be in mortal danger.
In September 2011 Kirichenko's wife, Isabella, was tricked into returning to Kyiv on the pretext that a friend of Yanukovych's top legal adviser, Andriy Portnov, was interested in purchasing substantial property assets in Kyiv belonging to Kirichenko. These had been frozen after Kirichenko had fled from Ukraine. Isabella was arrested and banged up in prison accused of forging documents and fraud.
Kirichenko was contacted by Ukrainian prosecutors, and again failed to provide any linkage between Tymoshenko and Shcherban's murder...until 2012, after Isabella had been released and returned safely back to the USA, And after Kirichenko had successfully finally 'cashed in' his Ukrainian assets....
Will Kirichenko show up on the 15th? I wonder...
American lawyers will tell him he has every right to remain silent if he so chooses.
p.s. Witness tampering. or attempting to pervert the course of justice is grave crime in most countries...any Ukrainian official who may have participated in such behaviour in this case could face two decades in a US prison...
[Update: Ukraine's prosecution service have terminated their investigation into the Shcherban murder case blaming US and Chech authorities for non co-operation] More later on this sensational development....
[Update 2 - It seems the investigation has been resumed after the previous termination....
Very unprofessional, I say...in fact very shambolic.. quite what Kirichenko and his advisors make of this is anyone's guess..]
Kirichenko was to provide evidence via video link from California, but his appearance was postponed until May 15, supposedly at the request of the Ukrainian consul in San Francisco for unspecified, 'technical reasons'. There have since been several unsubstantiated reports that Kirichenko simply got 'cold feet' and failed to turn up on the day.
This man has a highly dubious past. Here are some highlights [source]:
Born in Makiyivka, Donetsk oblast - 1952. Worked as trade representative in Hungary and Poland in Soviet times. Set up his own business in 1989 - knew Pavlo Lazarenko since 1986
In 1990 set up 'AgroPostachBut' but three years later allegedly had his 'arm twisted' and was forced to go '50-50' with Lazarenko, who was an oblast governor at the time. Kirichenko allegedly held a secret grudge against Lazarenko ever since.
Kirichenko spent much time in Poland and considered emigrating to the USA where he set up 'ABS Trading'.
In the summer of '95 Kirichenko was arrested in Poland after alleged being linked to a murder and illegal possession of a firearm. But heavy pressure from Lazarenko, by then a cabinet minister, enabled Kirichenko to be released on bail by Polish authorities, after spending a month behind bars.
Kirichenko skipped bail and flew to the USA to apply for permanent residence in that country. He fiddled his application and exaggerated 'ABS Trading's turn-over by many times. He included Lazarenko's ill-gotten money to inflate the figures. He also 'forgot to mention' his then-recent problems in Poland..
In 1999 he was arrested and detained in California at the request of Swiss authorities who were investigating his and Lazarenko's money laundering activities in their country. Kirichenko was involved with setting up intermediary companies to help Lazarenko 'divert' huge sums to which he had access to when he held high office.
In December 1999, having spent half a year sharing a jail cell with Lazarenko, Kirichenko decided to turn state's evidence against his former partner...as a result he was released from his prison cell and placed under house arrest.
In May 2000 he received immunity from prosecution and the right to naturalisation in the USA having pleaded guilty to lesser crimes and paying a $3 million fine.
Subsequently Lazarenko was found guilty of money laundering and corruption and sentenced eventually, to nine years in prison.
Although the prosecution have high hopes for Kirichenko in the Shcherban murder trial, until recently he had never linked Tymoshenko to Schcherban's killing whenever he was questioned by investigators. But he did claim, in 2001, that in 1995 Lazarenko asked him to get in touch with a criminal capo Milchenko a.k.a. 'Matros' to provide protection for Tymoshenko, whose life had apparently been considered to be in mortal danger.
In September 2011 Kirichenko's wife, Isabella, was tricked into returning to Kyiv on the pretext that a friend of Yanukovych's top legal adviser, Andriy Portnov, was interested in purchasing substantial property assets in Kyiv belonging to Kirichenko. These had been frozen after Kirichenko had fled from Ukraine. Isabella was arrested and banged up in prison accused of forging documents and fraud.
Kirichenko was contacted by Ukrainian prosecutors, and again failed to provide any linkage between Tymoshenko and Shcherban's murder...until 2012, after Isabella had been released and returned safely back to the USA, And after Kirichenko had successfully finally 'cashed in' his Ukrainian assets....
Will Kirichenko show up on the 15th? I wonder...
American lawyers will tell him he has every right to remain silent if he so chooses.
p.s. Witness tampering. or attempting to pervert the course of justice is grave crime in most countries...any Ukrainian official who may have participated in such behaviour in this case could face two decades in a US prison...
[Update: Ukraine's prosecution service have terminated their investigation into the Shcherban murder case blaming US and Chech authorities for non co-operation] More later on this sensational development....
[Update 2 - It seems the investigation has been resumed after the previous termination....
Very unprofessional, I say...in fact very shambolic.. quite what Kirichenko and his advisors make of this is anyone's guess..]
Monday, May 06, 2013
Commenters on Shcherban murder
It is sometimes interesting to read comments at the end of articles on Ukrainian websites, particularly those articles concerning the assassination of Yevhen Shcherban in November 1996. Ukrainian authorities are now trying to pin his killing onto Yulia Tymoshenko.
Below are things, often unsubstantiated, that commentators say. [Some of them even claim to have been familiar to the business machinations of that period].
Tymoshenko's company had been given permission to sell a huge quantity of gas in the Ukrainian market. Approval must have been granted at the very highest level in Ukraine and Russia. At the time she was a successful businesswoman but had little involvement in politics, so she did not control these processes.
Every smart businessman knew that selling gas on credit to big, cash-strapped industrial plants in Eastern Ukraine would become a mechanism for amassing great wealth during a period of widespread privatisation. After more that a decade and a half, many records of business transactions from that period are no longer available, so many details of what went on are unclear.
In June 22 1996, six months before his assassination at Donetsk airport, Yevhen Shcherban, according to one report, allegedly survived a car bomb in Debaltseve, a highly criminalised town about 40 miles east of Donetsk. He was most aware his life was at risk - prominent businessmen/gangsters were being killed almost every month.
After this Shcherban apparently left Ukraine for several months and had allegedly attended the Atlanta Olympic games in July/August 1996 with Volodymyr Shcherban. The day before his killing that November he had attended the silver jubilee party of legendary crooner Yosyp Kobzon in Moscow.
There he also met US citizen Paul Tatum, who Shcherban had helped financially during the former's litigation at the Stockholm Court of Arbitration.
Tatum and Shcherban had known one another since 1992. The 'Aton' company where Shcherban had been deputy director, received a $50 million credit line guaranteed by the Government of Ukraine. This money was never returned, and the debt eventually settled by GoU. 'Aton's CEO, Markulov disappeared, and Shcherban took over running the outfit.
Tatum was killed in Moscow a few hours after Shcherban flew back to Donetsk in a private jet, to be shot with his wife as they disembarked from the plane. Their killers were dressed as airport security staff and escaped practically unhindered after the crime took place.
Shcherban's sons claim law enforcement officers turned up, astonishingly, only after a huge one hour delay; and where more interested in getting their hands on their father's briefcase, rather than apprehending the killers.
Only a well-funded, professional network could have tracked Shcherban for the period he was out of the country, and organise such a high-profile, spectacular and brazen assassination.
This all suggests the likely involvement of 'Volodymyrska' [SBU headquarters is at no 33, Volodymyrska Street]. Russian FSB involvement is also frequently mentioned.
Below are things, often unsubstantiated, that commentators say. [Some of them even claim to have been familiar to the business machinations of that period].
Tymoshenko's company had been given permission to sell a huge quantity of gas in the Ukrainian market. Approval must have been granted at the very highest level in Ukraine and Russia. At the time she was a successful businesswoman but had little involvement in politics, so she did not control these processes.
Every smart businessman knew that selling gas on credit to big, cash-strapped industrial plants in Eastern Ukraine would become a mechanism for amassing great wealth during a period of widespread privatisation. After more that a decade and a half, many records of business transactions from that period are no longer available, so many details of what went on are unclear.
In June 22 1996, six months before his assassination at Donetsk airport, Yevhen Shcherban, according to one report, allegedly survived a car bomb in Debaltseve, a highly criminalised town about 40 miles east of Donetsk. He was most aware his life was at risk - prominent businessmen/gangsters were being killed almost every month.
After this Shcherban apparently left Ukraine for several months and had allegedly attended the Atlanta Olympic games in July/August 1996 with Volodymyr Shcherban. The day before his killing that November he had attended the silver jubilee party of legendary crooner Yosyp Kobzon in Moscow.
There he also met US citizen Paul Tatum, who Shcherban had helped financially during the former's litigation at the Stockholm Court of Arbitration.
Tatum and Shcherban had known one another since 1992. The 'Aton' company where Shcherban had been deputy director, received a $50 million credit line guaranteed by the Government of Ukraine. This money was never returned, and the debt eventually settled by GoU. 'Aton's CEO, Markulov disappeared, and Shcherban took over running the outfit.
Tatum was killed in Moscow a few hours after Shcherban flew back to Donetsk in a private jet, to be shot with his wife as they disembarked from the plane. Their killers were dressed as airport security staff and escaped practically unhindered after the crime took place.
Shcherban's sons claim law enforcement officers turned up, astonishingly, only after a huge one hour delay; and where more interested in getting their hands on their father's briefcase, rather than apprehending the killers.
Only a well-funded, professional network could have tracked Shcherban for the period he was out of the country, and organise such a high-profile, spectacular and brazen assassination.
This all suggests the likely involvement of 'Volodymyrska' [SBU headquarters is at no 33, Volodymyrska Street]. Russian FSB involvement is also frequently mentioned.
Wednesday, May 01, 2013
Yevhen Shcherban's sons hint bent cops were involved in their father's murder
Forbes.ua have posted an interview with the sons of Yevhen Shcherban, who was murdered with his wife in 1996. Shcherban may have been the richest man in Ukraine at the time of his death. Yulia Tymoshenko is being linked to these murders.
Below are portions of the sons' responses:
"Everything [all the business interests] that has been created by my father, collapsed in just over 8 months [after his death]... I was at the airport with my father when he was shot. Police arrived at the scene of a murder only after an hour, whereas [his] office was surrounded and documents seized faster. [What a] paradoxical situation. It was obvious that a well thought out and organized plan had been implemented. We are trying to sort out who and what sort of people had anything to do with this."
Also,
"State organs were very closely involved in this [threatening us]. A seizure of documents took place - which was very peculiar. At the airport, after the murder, over the body of my father, the first question I was asked was: "Where's the briefcase with the documents." The group of investigators who turned up included the heads of oblast departments of the Security Service, the Interior Ministry, the organised crime fighting agency, and head of the transport prosecutor's office. But they were primarily interested in our father's documents, rather than the details of the murder."
Ruslan admits that the recent fatal hunting accident, [where, its seems one of his friends fired his rifle, the bullet ricochetting from a tree to kill another friend], actually did take place. But he denies that he was blackmailed to issue any statement linking Tymoshenko and Lazarenko for the murder of their father.
The sons just say they are not accusing anyone of their father's murder, but only declared at the press conference a month after the hunting accident they had merely requested law enforcement agencies to check out any possible involvement of Lazarenko and Tymoshenko in the murder of their parents.
They say they have 'no beef' with one of their late father's associates, Rinat Akhmetov.
The sons say they only managed to retain 5% of their late father's assets. They say that they know a lot more that they are prepared to reveal at the moment...
They give no hint that Tymoshenko may have benefitted financially from the 'carve-up' of their father's assets.
[The actions of Ukrainian law enforcement officers is far from unique. E.g . in the case of Hermitage Capital Management, corrupt Russian law enforcement officers allegedly stole corporate registration documents and company seals of various holding companies. They then defrauded the Russian state of hundreds of millions of dollars tax paid by those companies. Pre-dated documents offering "proof" of transfer of ownership, or changes in ownership, or pre-dated 'IOU's, for presentation before a shady court, can easily be created.]
But Shcherban's sons give little hint who was behind all of this dirty business...I guess they are using every trick to take advantage of the situation and try and recover as much of their late father's assets as possible...if anyone gets hurt or suffers an injustice, so what?
Hard to believe that after a shooting at an international airport it took police one hour to arrive, no?
p.s. Important statement by European People's Party on Tymoshenko ruling here
Below are portions of the sons' responses:
"Everything [all the business interests] that has been created by my father, collapsed in just over 8 months [after his death]... I was at the airport with my father when he was shot. Police arrived at the scene of a murder only after an hour, whereas [his] office was surrounded and documents seized faster. [What a] paradoxical situation. It was obvious that a well thought out and organized plan had been implemented. We are trying to sort out who and what sort of people had anything to do with this."
Also,
"State organs were very closely involved in this [threatening us]. A seizure of documents took place - which was very peculiar. At the airport, after the murder, over the body of my father, the first question I was asked was: "Where's the briefcase with the documents." The group of investigators who turned up included the heads of oblast departments of the Security Service, the Interior Ministry, the organised crime fighting agency, and head of the transport prosecutor's office. But they were primarily interested in our father's documents, rather than the details of the murder."
Ruslan admits that the recent fatal hunting accident, [where, its seems one of his friends fired his rifle, the bullet ricochetting from a tree to kill another friend], actually did take place. But he denies that he was blackmailed to issue any statement linking Tymoshenko and Lazarenko for the murder of their father.
The sons just say they are not accusing anyone of their father's murder, but only declared at the press conference a month after the hunting accident they had merely requested law enforcement agencies to check out any possible involvement of Lazarenko and Tymoshenko in the murder of their parents.
They say they have 'no beef' with one of their late father's associates, Rinat Akhmetov.
The sons say they only managed to retain 5% of their late father's assets. They say that they know a lot more that they are prepared to reveal at the moment...
They give no hint that Tymoshenko may have benefitted financially from the 'carve-up' of their father's assets.
[The actions of Ukrainian law enforcement officers is far from unique. E.g . in the case of Hermitage Capital Management, corrupt Russian law enforcement officers allegedly stole corporate registration documents and company seals of various holding companies. They then defrauded the Russian state of hundreds of millions of dollars tax paid by those companies. Pre-dated documents offering "proof" of transfer of ownership, or changes in ownership, or pre-dated 'IOU's, for presentation before a shady court, can easily be created.]
But Shcherban's sons give little hint who was behind all of this dirty business...I guess they are using every trick to take advantage of the situation and try and recover as much of their late father's assets as possible...if anyone gets hurt or suffers an injustice, so what?
Hard to believe that after a shooting at an international airport it took police one hour to arrive, no?
p.s. Important statement by European People's Party on Tymoshenko ruling here
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Tymoshenko's position bolstered
Whatever positive spin Ukraine's smart-arsed politician will try and place on today's ECHR verdict - this is the unvarnished truth from an impeccable source:
Court: Ukraine breached human rights of former Prime Minister Yuliya Tymoshenko
Judges today decided that Ukraine breached the human rights of former Prime Minister Yuliya Tymoshenko.
The European Court of Human Rights held in particular that Tymoshenko’s pre-trial detention had been arbitrary, that the lawfulness of her detention had not been properly reviewed and, that she had no possibility to seek compensation for her unlawful deprivation of liberty.
In its judgment in the case of Tymoshenko v. Ukraine (application no. 49872/11), which is not final, the European Court of Human Rights held, unanimously, that there had been:
a violation of Article 5 § 1 (right to liberty and security) of the European Convention on Human Rights;
a violation of Article 5 § 4 (right to a speedy review of the lawfulness of detention);
a violation of Article 5 § 5 (right to compensation for unlawful detention);
a violation of Article 18 (limitation on use of restrictions on rights) in conjunction with Article 5;
and it held, by a majority, that there had been no violation of Article 3 (prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment) in respect of Ms Tymoshenko’s alleged ill-treatment during her transfer to hospital on 20 April 2012 and the effectiveness of the investigation of those complaints.
The case concerned complaints related to the detention of the former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yuliya Tymoshenko. The court found that, given that the judge had referred to her alleged hindering of the proceedings and contemptuous behaviour, her right to liberty had been restricted for other reasons than those permissible under Article 5.
Tymoshenko can now say with fear of contradiction her detention was unlawful...her human rights violated, and,because she was such a high profile political figure - this was politically motivated...
This will not be easy to 'paper over'....
Monday, April 29, 2013
EC commissioner's spokesman all but accuses Yanuk's man of fibbing about Tymoshenko
"EC labels alleged removal of Tymoshenko's issue from EU-Ukraine agenda as 'paid advertisement'
"The spokesman for the European Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighborhood Policy Stefan Fule, Peter Stano, has described reports about the alleged removal of the issue of Tymoshenko from the agenda of the EU-Ukraine relations a 'paid advertisement' and 'misleading information.'"
Peter Stano names [and shames?] 'Segodnya' newspaper and head of Ukraine's National Security Council, Andriy Kluyev...
One of Kluyev's briefs, as official 'Euro-integrational curator' is to lubricate links between EU/Ukraine and improve chances of signing of the AA.....he is clearly screwing up on this....
Watch video of what Stano said here
PS. European Court of Human Rights will give its judgement on the Tymoshenko Vs Ukraine case at 10.30 am local time.
This woman will continue to cast a giant shadow Ukrainian politics...
"The spokesman for the European Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighborhood Policy Stefan Fule, Peter Stano, has described reports about the alleged removal of the issue of Tymoshenko from the agenda of the EU-Ukraine relations a 'paid advertisement' and 'misleading information.'"
Peter Stano names [and shames?] 'Segodnya' newspaper and head of Ukraine's National Security Council, Andriy Kluyev...
One of Kluyev's briefs, as official 'Euro-integrational curator' is to lubricate links between EU/Ukraine and improve chances of signing of the AA.....he is clearly screwing up on this....
Watch video of what Stano said here
PS. European Court of Human Rights will give its judgement on the Tymoshenko Vs Ukraine case at 10.30 am local time.
This woman will continue to cast a giant shadow Ukrainian politics...
Will Germans go soft on Yanuk?
The authoritative Polish 'Gazeta Wyborcza' in an article following the visit to Kyiv of the foreign ministers of Poland, Denmark, Lithuania an the Netherlands, claims the possibility that an association agreement with the EU in November will be signed is growing, even if former PM Yulia Tymoshenko remains in jail.
They claim Germany, the country with the most sceptic attitude to Ukraine's euro-integration, has recently been getting highly 'pissed off' with Russia and its president Vladimir Putin. They see ever-increasing pressure being applied on already weak political opposition, on what remains of independent media, and other independent NGO's. A report by Human Rights Watch states civil liberties are being violated with a brutality not seen since the fall of communism. Even premises of German-funded research foundations have been raided.
Because of all this, the article claims the German foreign affair ministry in particular is ever-more fearful that if the AA is not signed Ukraine may succumb to Russian pressure and enter into a Customs Union with that country, Belarus and Kazakhstan, thus spreading authoritarianism deeper westward.
[Chancellor Merkel thus far has been a staunch defender of Yulia Tymoshenko, even comparing Yanukovych's Ukraine with Lukashenko's Belarus. But fresh elections will take place in September in Germany...]
Your humble blogger does not buy this argument. Increased authoritarianism in Russia should, logically make Yanukovych more accommodating to European leaders appeals, rather than less [unless he wants to go down that route too].
Democratic countries in the western portion of Europe are the ones most uneasy about the systematic roll-back of democracy in Ukraine. Even is some kind of fudged deal is signed in November, ratification in their individual national parliaments is a long way off and is unlikely to take place whilst Yanukovych is president..
p.s In 2012's Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index Ukraine was placed at the 144th place of the 176 countries investigated (tied with Bangladesh, Cameroon, Central African Republic, and Syria).
Back in 2007 Ukraine had taken the 118th place...[Source..]
Do any western politicians really think signing any AA with the current regime will reverse this slide?
They claim Germany, the country with the most sceptic attitude to Ukraine's euro-integration, has recently been getting highly 'pissed off' with Russia and its president Vladimir Putin. They see ever-increasing pressure being applied on already weak political opposition, on what remains of independent media, and other independent NGO's. A report by Human Rights Watch states civil liberties are being violated with a brutality not seen since the fall of communism. Even premises of German-funded research foundations have been raided.
Because of all this, the article claims the German foreign affair ministry in particular is ever-more fearful that if the AA is not signed Ukraine may succumb to Russian pressure and enter into a Customs Union with that country, Belarus and Kazakhstan, thus spreading authoritarianism deeper westward.
[Chancellor Merkel thus far has been a staunch defender of Yulia Tymoshenko, even comparing Yanukovych's Ukraine with Lukashenko's Belarus. But fresh elections will take place in September in Germany...]
Your humble blogger does not buy this argument. Increased authoritarianism in Russia should, logically make Yanukovych more accommodating to European leaders appeals, rather than less [unless he wants to go down that route too].
Democratic countries in the western portion of Europe are the ones most uneasy about the systematic roll-back of democracy in Ukraine. Even is some kind of fudged deal is signed in November, ratification in their individual national parliaments is a long way off and is unlikely to take place whilst Yanukovych is president..
p.s In 2012's Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index Ukraine was placed at the 144th place of the 176 countries investigated (tied with Bangladesh, Cameroon, Central African Republic, and Syria).
Back in 2007 Ukraine had taken the 118th place...[Source..]
Do any western politicians really think signing any AA with the current regime will reverse this slide?
Saturday, April 27, 2013
What the hell is going on at TVi?
Good analysis from the excellent Graham Stack here
There are grave suspicions expressed by respectable journalists that 'Simya' and their operator, vice PM Serhiy Arbuzov are behind the 'raid on TVi. [Also here ]
Yet, as Stack mentions: "Controversially, the new owner Altman is crucially backed by the channel's former CEO, prominent journalist Mikhailo Knyazhitsky, who was elected to parliament for the opposition party Batkyvschina in November 2013, as well as by chief news editor and talk-show host Vitaly Portnikov.
Both men justify their position by saying the exact opposite to Kagalovskiy – that the new owners have actually prevented the channel from being sold to structures close to the ruling Party of Regions and the family of President Viktor Yanukovych."
Other journalists doubt whether 'Simya' are involved, and see the conflict as a battle between shady offshore owners intending to sell on TVi 'when the price is right'. Both Knyazhitsky's and Pornikov's track records are impeccable - they are amongst the most ethically sound journalists in Ukraine... so the striking TVi staff and journalists are absolutely correct in demanding total transparency and a clearing of the air by previous/new owners before returning to work.
But, imo, the clincher that there are dirty deeds afoot? - The unannounced gangster-like manner in which the TV company's premises were raided and taken over...maybe an 'each way' bet?
p.s. Key prosecution witness, Petro Kirichenko, who now resides in the USA, was scheduled to testify in the pre-trial Yevhen Shcherban murder trial via video link, but this has been postponed until May 15 at the request of the Ukrainian consul in San Francisco. Postponement was requested and granted for unspecified 'technical reasons'.
Tymoshenko's defence team have turned the tables on Kirichenko, and now have officially contacted the US Department of Justice to investigate his possible involvement in Shcherban's murder in 1996.
He himself admitted he was personally involved in the transfer of hundreds of thousands of dollars to Dnipropetrovsk crime boss 'Matros' as alleged payment for Shcherban's killing, but claimed he did not know "the true intentions of Tymoshenko and Lazarenko," Difficult to believe, knowing Matros's notoriety..
Kirichenko is in a very tricky position. Having given many hours of evidence to US law enforcement agencies, he must be careful not to perjure himself when [if?] he testifies in the pre-trial hearing. If he does it would put him in very 'hot water' indeed in the USA. He knows well how Pavlo Lazarenko, his former boss on whom he ratted,was treated...
In November 1996, senior PoR parliamentarian, Mikhaylo Chechetov, then member of Shcherban's parliamentary faction, addressed parliament two days after Shcherban's murder. He blamed the criminal underworld for the killings, complaining that even the attempted assassination of the then PM Pavlo Lazarenko a few months previously, had not been solved.
It was clear from his statement that at that time 'Donetski' did not consider Tymoshenko in any way responsible for Shcherban's death. Until Yanukovych became president neither did anyone else...
There are grave suspicions expressed by respectable journalists that 'Simya' and their operator, vice PM Serhiy Arbuzov are behind the 'raid on TVi. [Also here ]
Yet, as Stack mentions: "Controversially, the new owner Altman is crucially backed by the channel's former CEO, prominent journalist Mikhailo Knyazhitsky, who was elected to parliament for the opposition party Batkyvschina in November 2013, as well as by chief news editor and talk-show host Vitaly Portnikov.
Both men justify their position by saying the exact opposite to Kagalovskiy – that the new owners have actually prevented the channel from being sold to structures close to the ruling Party of Regions and the family of President Viktor Yanukovych."
Other journalists doubt whether 'Simya' are involved, and see the conflict as a battle between shady offshore owners intending to sell on TVi 'when the price is right'. Both Knyazhitsky's and Pornikov's track records are impeccable - they are amongst the most ethically sound journalists in Ukraine... so the striking TVi staff and journalists are absolutely correct in demanding total transparency and a clearing of the air by previous/new owners before returning to work.
But, imo, the clincher that there are dirty deeds afoot? - The unannounced gangster-like manner in which the TV company's premises were raided and taken over...maybe an 'each way' bet?
p.s. Key prosecution witness, Petro Kirichenko, who now resides in the USA, was scheduled to testify in the pre-trial Yevhen Shcherban murder trial via video link, but this has been postponed until May 15 at the request of the Ukrainian consul in San Francisco. Postponement was requested and granted for unspecified 'technical reasons'.
Tymoshenko's defence team have turned the tables on Kirichenko, and now have officially contacted the US Department of Justice to investigate his possible involvement in Shcherban's murder in 1996.
He himself admitted he was personally involved in the transfer of hundreds of thousands of dollars to Dnipropetrovsk crime boss 'Matros' as alleged payment for Shcherban's killing, but claimed he did not know "the true intentions of Tymoshenko and Lazarenko," Difficult to believe, knowing Matros's notoriety..
Kirichenko is in a very tricky position. Having given many hours of evidence to US law enforcement agencies, he must be careful not to perjure himself when [if?] he testifies in the pre-trial hearing. If he does it would put him in very 'hot water' indeed in the USA. He knows well how Pavlo Lazarenko, his former boss on whom he ratted,was treated...
In November 1996, senior PoR parliamentarian, Mikhaylo Chechetov, then member of Shcherban's parliamentary faction, addressed parliament two days after Shcherban's murder. He blamed the criminal underworld for the killings, complaining that even the attempted assassination of the then PM Pavlo Lazarenko a few months previously, had not been solved.
It was clear from his statement that at that time 'Donetski' did not consider Tymoshenko in any way responsible for Shcherban's death. Until Yanukovych became president neither did anyone else...
Thursday, April 25, 2013
Insider dealing by Ukraine's ministers exposed at PACE
Testimony before the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
March 19, 2013
"Ukraine’s proven reserves of natural gas are amongst the largest in the world. Tapping into the Black Sea’s reserves, given the politically delicate region, vast sums of money involved and insatiable global thirst for energy create opportunities for grand corruption.
According to reporting and documents published by Ukranian NGO Anticorruption ActionCentre, in March 2011, a subsidiary of the state owned Naftogaz bought an oil rig from a U.K.-registered company for $400 million, a 60% increase over the then market value of $250 million.
More than a year after the equipment should have been delivered, it has not. In questioning the cause for the $150 million premium, and failure to deliver the equipment, journalists and civil society investigators have uncovered a network of shell companies that obscured a purportedly competitive procurement process and masked a multi-million dollar assault on the Ukrainian Treasury allegedly perpetrated by a small group of individuals with close ties to high ranking public officials.The Anticorruption Action Centre reports that the two “competing” companies for the equipment sale share a common director.
The same name appears as the director of the winning company and as the director of the parent company of the losing company. It appears as though there was no true competition at all.But even if the procurement process had been open and competitive, it is unclear what the Ukrainian government is getting for its money. Apparently, the rig has not yet been delivered.Ukrainian online newspaper Ukrayinska Pravda uncovered that an 80% down payment on therig was paid and deposited into the winning U.K.-registered company’s account at a small Latvian bank.
The site’s investigative reporting also revealed a set of close relationships that raise serious questions about how the transaction came about, including the commonality between management of Ukrainian state-owned natural resource companies, the involved banks, the winning-bidding company, Russian criminal organizations and Ukrainian public officials.
What has been uncovered in this and other transactions in Ukraine rig sales reeks of insider dealing at the expense of citizens who cannot afford the bleeding of their national wealth.
It appears that Latvia has and the U.K. may have initiated criminal investigations into this matter."
AT LONG LAST...
Why should Europe's leaders have any dealings with such brazen crooks? Or sign any deal - these guys will probably steal the pens...and the toilet paper....
[Photo source]
p.s. Former interior minister spent over two years on the scandalously dubious charges.
In total his actions allegedly resulted in losses of $125,000 to the state.
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
Biggest beast in Europe speaks out on Ukraine
Ukraine's efforts to satisfy specified conditions laid down by the EU in order that an Association Agreement be signed in November this year have been half-hearted and wholly unconvincing.
Despite this, your humble blogger considers Ukrainian politicians of all colours have consistently overestimated the desire of the EU to clinch this Association Agreement deal, and the overestime the chances of this taking place.
Some observers claim the EU have 'given up' on Tymoshenko, but by some kind of 'cock-eyed logic' suggest signing of the AA could take place if it was possibly combined with sanctions directed at individuals responsible for persecution of opposition leaders. [Hardly a sound start to any long-term relationship].
Yet everyone is aware that Tymoshenko's imprisonment was ordered solely at the command of the man who became president having received less that 50% of votes cast when he narrowly beat Tymoshenko in the two-horse race for the presidency. It was the narrowness of this victory that drove Yanukovych to eliminate his greatest rival from the political stage.
Now bluff-talking German Chancellor Angela Merkel has made her position crystal-clear:
'Deutsche Welle' reports: "For Ukraine to move closer to the EU it must resolve "a whole series of problems," said Angela Merkel in Berlin on Wednesday, April 17, after talks with Prime Minister of Estonia Andrus Ansip. But she stressed that the development of closer relations with Ukraine remains an aim for the EU.
According to Merkel, the case of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko is not the only obstacle to the signing of the AA the EU. "In general we are talking about the legal system in Ukraine and respect for human rights and civil liberties" - she said. That's why the signing of the long-agreed document is now frozen.
Was Merkel deliberately spiking Kwasniewski and Cox's guns?
Despite this, your humble blogger considers Ukrainian politicians of all colours have consistently overestimated the desire of the EU to clinch this Association Agreement deal, and the overestime the chances of this taking place.
Some observers claim the EU have 'given up' on Tymoshenko, but by some kind of 'cock-eyed logic' suggest signing of the AA could take place if it was possibly combined with sanctions directed at individuals responsible for persecution of opposition leaders. [Hardly a sound start to any long-term relationship].
Yet everyone is aware that Tymoshenko's imprisonment was ordered solely at the command of the man who became president having received less that 50% of votes cast when he narrowly beat Tymoshenko in the two-horse race for the presidency. It was the narrowness of this victory that drove Yanukovych to eliminate his greatest rival from the political stage.
Now bluff-talking German Chancellor Angela Merkel has made her position crystal-clear:
'Deutsche Welle' reports: "For Ukraine to move closer to the EU it must resolve "a whole series of problems," said Angela Merkel in Berlin on Wednesday, April 17, after talks with Prime Minister of Estonia Andrus Ansip. But she stressed that the development of closer relations with Ukraine remains an aim for the EU.
According to Merkel, the case of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko is not the only obstacle to the signing of the AA the EU. "In general we are talking about the legal system in Ukraine and respect for human rights and civil liberties" - she said. That's why the signing of the long-agreed document is now frozen.
Was Merkel deliberately spiking Kwasniewski and Cox's guns?
Gangster talk in Donetsk oblast
Mayor of Slovyansk, Nelya Shtepa recently publicly addressed city officials. [Video here]
Dressing down the city architect, she said: "I'm tired of you, I'm tired of you! Your idle life today is in no way suited to the life of our city. The city works, all the people are working, and only you remain idle! Enough of this! If you fell under my arm when I went round the city this morning, then you would have been buried today! I do not hit twice, only once...[once] in the snout [morda], and then once on the coffin lid. Straight away - on the coffin lid!"
Slavyonsk is a medium-sized town in the Donetsk oblast, known for its spa.
No wonder the oblast has a gangster reputation because it seems such declarations are quite normal there...but would any decent person do business with such a woman? In such a town where such threats can be made with impunity?
p.s. Shtepa could have a glittering career ahead of her....
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
"Kurokrady"
Party of Regions parliamentary deputies continue to steal votes in parliament, despite their solemn undertaking to cut out such anti-constitutional behaviour.
Because of laziness, not being bothered to turn up, or lack of party discipline, the ruling majority is still incapable of honestly garnering the 226+ votes necessary to pass new legislation. PoR faction leader Yefremov puts the high absentee rate down to a nebulous 'human factor'
However, when no journalists or members of the opposition are present to scrutinise proceedings, as during the hijacked April 4 session, held behind closed doors in a small cinema, Hey presto! they can assemble 244 pro-government members, no problem.
President Yanukovych, together with many other Ukrainian politicians delude themselves on their relationship with mature western democracies. Today the president said: "We have an ambitious goal - to sign the Association Agreement in November this year with the EU at Vilnius summit....The process of euro-integration is lengthy. There are criteria toward which Ukraine is striving; and above all, we are interested in this, because it is the modernisation of our country, it is our success."
One problem: No respectable politician or businessman will have any lasting relationship with such 'stone-age' kurokrady....
*In Eastern Europe a kurokrad [lit. chicken thief] was the epithet given to to petty thief. In villages chickens grazed freely - only the lowest of the low would stoop so low as to steal his neighbour's chickens.
p.s. TVi report seasoned Ukrainian politician and latterly presidential adviser, Valeriy Konovalyuk, has quit PoR in a huff.
The youthful Konovalyuk struck me as being from the same mould as Vitaliy Khoroskovsky, [who also recently walked out of Ukrainian politics], and Serhiy Tihipko - all bright, eloquent, highly presentable performers.
Without such people Party of Regions' look ever more like a bunch of old crocodiles - like PM Azarov, parliamentary speaker Rybak, Yefremov (see above) - same old faces that have been around too long.
The new young Donbas guys linked to 'The Family' who have been assigned the construction of a power monopoly structure headed by Yanukovych, shy away from publicity and the cut and thrust of politics.
Konovalyuk laments: "All of my numerous requests and documents about the situation in the country, about failing and inefficient economic policies, the absence of real reform, the extent of corruption and abuse, of the low standard of the executive authority and its discipline, and much, much more ... What is happening today (about which I have repeatedly warned) - is a direct path to crisis and the bankruptcy of the country. It is a complete rejection of the promises and obligations given three years ago, and the betrayal of those who for many years have supported and believed in the development and the prosperity of Ukraine,"
Because of laziness, not being bothered to turn up, or lack of party discipline, the ruling majority is still incapable of honestly garnering the 226+ votes necessary to pass new legislation. PoR faction leader Yefremov puts the high absentee rate down to a nebulous 'human factor'
However, when no journalists or members of the opposition are present to scrutinise proceedings, as during the hijacked April 4 session, held behind closed doors in a small cinema, Hey presto! they can assemble 244 pro-government members, no problem.
President Yanukovych, together with many other Ukrainian politicians delude themselves on their relationship with mature western democracies. Today the president said: "We have an ambitious goal - to sign the Association Agreement in November this year with the EU at Vilnius summit....The process of euro-integration is lengthy. There are criteria toward which Ukraine is striving; and above all, we are interested in this, because it is the modernisation of our country, it is our success."
One problem: No respectable politician or businessman will have any lasting relationship with such 'stone-age' kurokrady....
*In Eastern Europe a kurokrad [lit. chicken thief] was the epithet given to to petty thief. In villages chickens grazed freely - only the lowest of the low would stoop so low as to steal his neighbour's chickens.
p.s. TVi report seasoned Ukrainian politician and latterly presidential adviser, Valeriy Konovalyuk, has quit PoR in a huff.
The youthful Konovalyuk struck me as being from the same mould as Vitaliy Khoroskovsky, [who also recently walked out of Ukrainian politics], and Serhiy Tihipko - all bright, eloquent, highly presentable performers.
Without such people Party of Regions' look ever more like a bunch of old crocodiles - like PM Azarov, parliamentary speaker Rybak, Yefremov (see above) - same old faces that have been around too long.
The new young Donbas guys linked to 'The Family' who have been assigned the construction of a power monopoly structure headed by Yanukovych, shy away from publicity and the cut and thrust of politics.
Konovalyuk laments: "All of my numerous requests and documents about the situation in the country, about failing and inefficient economic policies, the absence of real reform, the extent of corruption and abuse, of the low standard of the executive authority and its discipline, and much, much more ... What is happening today (about which I have repeatedly warned) - is a direct path to crisis and the bankruptcy of the country. It is a complete rejection of the promises and obligations given three years ago, and the betrayal of those who for many years have supported and believed in the development and the prosperity of Ukraine,"
Friday, April 12, 2013
Ukraine's legal system completely discredited
Today Ukraine's Higher Administrative court deemed the hijacked 4th April parliamentary session which was held in a small cinema hall close to the main parliament building, to be legitimate. Opposition MP's had not been informed of the move from the normal parliamentary plenum chamber, and were brusquely refused access when they arrived..
The court claims a quorum i.e. was assembled, and 244 deputies attended the session, even though the parliamentary administration has refused to provide copies of the register containing signatures of those allegedly present. [Probably because it would be a simple task to check if any of these 244 where elsewhere at the time.]
Normally after any voting in the parliamentary plenum chamber, a list of names - who voted in favour, or against, is always posted on the official parliamentary website. This information has not materialised for the 4th April session, denying the electorate the opportunity to check how their individual MP's voted on the bills 'passed'.
No-one even knows for sure how many hands were shown to be in favour of any motion - only pro-government members of the counting committee were present in the hall. Opposition members of the committee were refused admission - access for them was physically denied to them by PoR deputies - so how could these PoR deputies vote when they were patrolling the narrow corridors outside the hall?
How can such a country, where the legal system is such a joke, be admitted to any European democratic institutions?
Sunday, April 07, 2013
Thanks...for nothing..
So Yanukovych has succumbed to two years of ferocious arm-twisting by European and global politicians. Today he pardoned Yuriy Lutsenko.
The case against the former Minister of the Interior was preposterous, as is his pardon.
Lutsenko has never requested a pardon - he therefore has nothing to thank Yanukovych for.
On the contrary - the emotion to 'get even' will be deep - and a gangster like Yanukovych knows this well,
Although imprisoned for well over two years, Lutsenko has been at the forefront of Ukrainian politics. Many European and Ukrainian leaders have visited him in court and in prison, and his name has never left the headlines. His writings are widely broadcast and read, and his opinion has been sought by today's opposition leaders.
The stigma of using selective justice to destroy his enemies will mark Yanukovych for the rest of his life.
Lutsenko with the help of his lawyers will certainly continue to try to clear his name by every means possible, both inside and outside the country, until he is fully rehabilitated. There is a high probability his aim will ultimately be achieved.
p.s. Lutsenko's release did not 'come out of the blue'. So why his humiliation last week?
A final kick up the a** as he walks out of the prison gates?
Sadists to the end....
The case against the former Minister of the Interior was preposterous, as is his pardon.
Lutsenko has never requested a pardon - he therefore has nothing to thank Yanukovych for.
On the contrary - the emotion to 'get even' will be deep - and a gangster like Yanukovych knows this well,
Although imprisoned for well over two years, Lutsenko has been at the forefront of Ukrainian politics. Many European and Ukrainian leaders have visited him in court and in prison, and his name has never left the headlines. His writings are widely broadcast and read, and his opinion has been sought by today's opposition leaders.
The stigma of using selective justice to destroy his enemies will mark Yanukovych for the rest of his life.
Lutsenko with the help of his lawyers will certainly continue to try to clear his name by every means possible, both inside and outside the country, until he is fully rehabilitated. There is a high probability his aim will ultimately be achieved.
p.s. Lutsenko's release did not 'come out of the blue'. So why his humiliation last week?
A final kick up the a** as he walks out of the prison gates?
Sadists to the end....
Thursday, April 04, 2013
Putsch on Bank Street?
According to 'K.P.' Ukraine's parliament split in half today.
The pro-presidential majority conducted an alternative parliament session in a small cinema/conference hall on Bank Street, while the opposition gathered in the regular parliamentary session hall.
The majority's decision to move elsewhere without prior notice was branded as “a coup” by the opposition. They are now calling for protest demonstrations to be held. Ironically, the disappointing turn-out at recent anti-government demos organised by the 'united opposition' may have emboldened the parliamentary majority to such measures.
The small hall in which the highly questionable "parliamentary session" took place comprises 11 rows of seats with 22 seats in each row, plus 6 other places. If every seat was taken there would only be room for 259 persons in the hall. There are 450 deputies Ukraine's parliament - quite where they all would have fitted had they all turned up is anyone's guess.
Photographs [such as this one from 'Ukrainska Pravda'] and videos tend to indicate that there may well not have even been the 226 deputies required for a quorum present.
The vote on the decision to stage the parliamentary session at an alternative location was not taken in the Verkhovna Rada, but rather by the 'renegades' in the hall on Bank Street. The decision to transfer the parliamentary sitting to Bank Street is therefore highly constitutionally questionable, to say the least.
The parliamentary speaker claimed 244 parliamentary deputies turned up at the alternative location even though everyone knows for the last 20 years absentee voting and other fiddling has been widespread amongst parliamentary deputies ..
Opposition deputies who wanted to get in and journalists who wanted to scrutinise proceedings and check the true number of those present were denied admission, raising much suspicion of foul play. Video recordings outside the entrance to the hall and the building will no doubt be carefully examined to see who was there and who was not.
So..was this a putsch?
At time of writing neither the parliamentary speaker nor the president have signed off resolutions passed today...if/when they do, there may be a clear criminal case to answer some time in the future.
The day's events provide more evidence to what we already know - Ukraine is becoming an authoritarian state - the point of no return has probably already been passed, and the book on Euro-integration closed.
p.s. picking up the bat and ball, declaring "I'm not playing with you any more," and slinking off to another place is not the way winner's behave..
p.p.s. The sh*t will hit the fan soon when big-names holding off-shore accounts in the BVI will be dribbled out...
Update - Careful checks of videos of renegade deputies entering and leaving the hall on Bank Street reveal in the 244 figure is almost certainly inflated...there was probably fewer that 200 deputies present.
The pro-presidential majority conducted an alternative parliament session in a small cinema/conference hall on Bank Street, while the opposition gathered in the regular parliamentary session hall.
The majority's decision to move elsewhere without prior notice was branded as “a coup” by the opposition. They are now calling for protest demonstrations to be held. Ironically, the disappointing turn-out at recent anti-government demos organised by the 'united opposition' may have emboldened the parliamentary majority to such measures.
The small hall in which the highly questionable "parliamentary session" took place comprises 11 rows of seats with 22 seats in each row, plus 6 other places. If every seat was taken there would only be room for 259 persons in the hall. There are 450 deputies Ukraine's parliament - quite where they all would have fitted had they all turned up is anyone's guess.
Photographs [such as this one from 'Ukrainska Pravda'] and videos tend to indicate that there may well not have even been the 226 deputies required for a quorum present.
The vote on the decision to stage the parliamentary session at an alternative location was not taken in the Verkhovna Rada, but rather by the 'renegades' in the hall on Bank Street. The decision to transfer the parliamentary sitting to Bank Street is therefore highly constitutionally questionable, to say the least.
The parliamentary speaker claimed 244 parliamentary deputies turned up at the alternative location even though everyone knows for the last 20 years absentee voting and other fiddling has been widespread amongst parliamentary deputies ..
Opposition deputies who wanted to get in and journalists who wanted to scrutinise proceedings and check the true number of those present were denied admission, raising much suspicion of foul play. Video recordings outside the entrance to the hall and the building will no doubt be carefully examined to see who was there and who was not.
So..was this a putsch?
At time of writing neither the parliamentary speaker nor the president have signed off resolutions passed today...if/when they do, there may be a clear criminal case to answer some time in the future.
The day's events provide more evidence to what we already know - Ukraine is becoming an authoritarian state - the point of no return has probably already been passed, and the book on Euro-integration closed.
p.s. picking up the bat and ball, declaring "I'm not playing with you any more," and slinking off to another place is not the way winner's behave..
p.p.s. The sh*t will hit the fan soon when big-names holding off-shore accounts in the BVI will be dribbled out...
Update - Careful checks of videos of renegade deputies entering and leaving the hall on Bank Street reveal in the 244 figure is almost certainly inflated...there was probably fewer that 200 deputies present.
Today's appeal court ruling gives Lutsenko added strength
The Higher Specialised Appeal Court today ordered Yuriy Lutsenko remain in prison to serve the remainder of his term.
Yet again Ukraine's ruling authorities turned down the opportunity to indicate they were prepared to make compromises to European leaders demands he be freed, because in their opinion, his persecution is politically motivated.
Lutsenko was denied the right to make a final address to the court.
Yanukovych has publicly stated that once all legal process is exhausted, as president, he would review the Lutsenko case again. Some [wildly optimistic?] observers consider Yanukovych could even release Lutsenko as a test...if reaction in society is muted, then maybe...maybe.. Tymoshenko could be deported to Germany for treatment.
The European Court of Human Rights can now examine his case in detail. Few doubt they will eventually rule in his favour.
The actions of Yanukovych and his henchmen thus far expose their great fear of Lutsenko, which paradoxically gives him added impetus to continue. Even if he serves his full term in prison and is released at the end of 2014, he will remain a major player in Ukrainian politics. Of the current bunch of opposition leaders, it seems Klychko is the one who contacts Lutsenko most frequently for advice on political strategy....
Wednesday, April 03, 2013
Lutsenko's treatment reveals true face of Ukraine's sadistic authorities
On Tuesday "A dramatic court hearing kicked off in Kyiv that could become pivotal for Ukraine's chances to sign an Association Agreement with the European Union this year."
Former Minister of the Interior, Yuriy Lutsenko, was appearing before the Higher Specialized Appeal Court for Civil and Criminal Cases.
The court room selected was about 15 sq.m. in size - Lutsenko was placed inside a soundproof 'glass aquarium' with a bench against the back wall for him to sit on.
The only way he could communicate with his defence council or others in the courtroom was through a waist-high opening at the side of the glass box - forcing him to bend down deeply whenever he wished to talk...
In courtrooms in the European Union, and in most civilised countries, even murderers are not humiliated in this way.
In these countries Lutsenko's alleged crimes would perhaps not even warrant a custodial sentence. The European Court of Human Rights have already declared he had been unfairly held under arrest before his trial. He has served well over half of a four-year sentence and recently underwent a surgical operation. More surgery may be required in the future.
Lutsenko's disgraceful treatment provides more evidence of the vindictiveness and vengefulness of the Yanukovych regime...and how little they know of the European values to which they aspire..
I shudder to think what European politicans make of this...
Friday, March 29, 2013
Selective use of justice used to break will of opposition [updated]
It was in the Obukhiv constituency in Kyiv, constituency no. 94, where some of the most blatant vote rigging in last autumn' parliamentary elections took place.
Party of Regions' candidate Tetyana Zasukha and her associates in the electoral commission, at a stroke, annulled almost 30,000 thousand votes cast at polling stations where her opponent, 'Batkivshchyna's Viktor Romanyuk, was according to independent polling, estimated to be well ahead.
Eventually Ukraine's Central Electoral Commission decided the final results were not 'safe' in 5 constituencies, including the result in constituency no. 94, and they were not approved. It is not clear when/if re-election will take place in these five constitutencies.
Romanyuk is challenging the result at the European Court of Human Rights.
Now Romanyuk is being hounded by the ruling authorities and is being sought in connection with 'an attempt to steal state property', even though this state property, remains in the hands of the state.
Romanyuk was detained in Italy late last week after the Ukrainian authorities placed him on the Interpol wanted list. His lawyers are confident the case against him is pathetically weak and he will be released in a week or two.
As I blogged previously, an opposition candidate from another of the five disputed constituencies, Arkadiy Kornatsky, is being severely 'squeezed'.
Vitaliy Klychko, leader of the 'Udar' party has complained several of his parliamentary deputies are also being pressurized by law enforcement agencies via their families, their business interests, in an attempt to make them compliant.
Selective use of the judicial system to break the will of the opposition is being systematically utilised by the ruling authorities.
Update - There are reports Romanyuk has been released from detention in Italy with 'no strings attached'..
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