today 23.05.2013 16:22
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Human Rights in Ukraine Information website of the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group |
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All stress the political motivation behind the trial and sentence of Yury Lutsenko and behind the prosecution of other opposition leaders, and “serious concerns about the Government of Ukraine’s commitment to democracy and rule of law” 
"We call on the international community to give their political assessment of attempts by the Ukrainian authorities to destroy the independence of the judicial system and allow the use of the justice system for political persecution of leaders of the opposition and civic activists" (Open for endorsement) 
Presiding judge Serhiy Vovk has just announced that the court is sentencing former Internal Affairs Minister and opposition leader, Yury Lutsenko to four years imprisonment following a trial condemned both within Ukraine and by all democratic countries as politically motivated 
The journal Ukrainsky tyzhden reports that several law enforcement officers running the cases of Yulia Tymoshenko and Yury Lutsenko have received promotions. An interesting nuance is that almost all of them have been moved to Ivano-Frankivsk (in Western Ukraine). 
Thousands of people have joined hands to form a "Great White Ring" around Moscow city center in protest against Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who is tipped to return as president in an election next week 
In an article at UNIAN, Oksana Klymonchuk notes that when Ukraine’s Security Service begins investigating possible "spying" for another country, as now with the renowned Director of the Institute of Sorption and Ecological Issues Ukraine immediately starts looking comical. 
It is 25 years since the death of General Petro Grigorenko – founding member of the Ukrainian Helsinki Group, friend and defender of the Crimean Tatar People, of all those in the Soviet Union facing persecution and himself a victim of punitive psychiatry 
There is a considerable difference between the Ukrainian version of Euronews and UTV-1 however, as feared, the same trend can be send of softening criticism of those in power, muffling or distorting information which could cause them embarrassment 
By seriously reducing the time limits within which people can apply to the court to have dubious court rulings or contracts revoked, guarantees of people’s rights, especially with regard to ownership, have also been reduced 
The Committee to protect Journalists writes that the development is a sign that Russian authorities are jittery about losing control of public opinion and are placing a strategic claim on the one independent broadcaster with ability to influence en mass 
"Investigators try to obtain confessions from suspects even where they have irrefutable evidence of the crime, proving guilt…. It’s the Soviet school. Only after getting a confession do they send the case to the court" 
Yakiv Strogan has now been held in custody for almost 14 months in a case creating a number of highly dangerous precedents, and with clear signs of being aimed at warning people against speaking out against police torture 
A Kyiv court has begun examining the criminal prosecution brought against 7 activists of the protests against the draft Tax Code in autumn 2010. The prosecution is seen by human rights organizations as being politically motivated and aimed at deterring people from engaging in peaceful protest 
On 3 February 2012 the Kyivsky District Court in Kharkiv overturned the decision to initiate a criminal investigation over alleged forging of documents confirming the status of former Chornobyl clean-up workers 
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