med falske anklager; Appel til EU 10. februar
11. feb., 2017 – Dr. Natalia Vitrenko, ukrainsk økonom og tidligere parlamentsmedlem, leder af Ukraines Progressive Socialistparti (UPS), publicerede i går en video, hvor hun fremlægger de seneste beviser på, at Ukraines Sikkerhedstjeneste (SBU) forsøger at gøre hende tavs gennem politisk motiverede falske anklager om separatisme, og også fremlægger detaljer om forsøg på at anklage hende på falsk grundlag helt tilbage til 2014. Loven, efter hvilken hun bliver anklaget, »krænkelse af Ukraines territoriale integritet«, blev vedtaget efter det amerikanskstøttede kup, der væltede Ukraines valgte præsident, Victor Janukovitj. Om mindre end to uger er det 3-års dagen for dette kup.
I går offentliggjorde dr. Vitrenko en appel om intervention, til EU’s høje repræsentant for udenrigsanliggender og sikkerhedspolitik, Federica Mogherini, med overskriften, »Vær med til at stoppe defameringen af et ukrainsk oppositionsparti og dets leder, Natalia Vitrenko!« (Den fulde ordlyd findes efter denne rapport; engelsk. En mere fyldestgørende redegørelse kan fås).
Den 28. oktober, 2016, var Vitrenkos parti, Ukraines Progressive Socialister, udsat for en razzia og blev besat af paramilitære styrker, der handlede på vegne af en uoverensstemmelse over ejendommen, som involverede bygningens udlejer. Indholdet af UPS’ kontor, dets avis, tilknyttede organisationer og individuelle personer blev kørt af sted, hhv. beslaglagt, af SBU. I november måned advarede Vitrenko om, at SBU ville gennemgå de konfiskerede computerfiler for at finde beviser, der kunne bruges til at genoplive en undersøgelse for kriminelle aktiviteter, af NGO’en Livets Gave, en kvindeorganisation, og af Vitrenko personligt som organisationens leder, på falske anklager om »krænkelse af Ukraines territoriale integritet«. Dette er paragraf 110 af Ukraines kriminallov, der kan give en straf på op til 10 års fængsel.
Dr. Vitrenko blev to gange forhørt af SBU i 2014, om anklager om, at organisationen Livets Gave skulle have modtaget russiske midler med det formål at bedrive det, som nogle medier ondskabsfuldt fremstillede som »propagandaarbejde for at miskreditere de ukrainske regeringsmyndigheder, fremprovokere væbnet konflikt mellem forskellige lag i befolkningen i Ukraine, incitere til etnisk had og levere informationsstøtte til at gennemføre ’folkeafstemninger’ i Ukraines østlige områder.«
Tilsyneladende fandt SBU stadig ingen beviser til støtte for anklagerne mod Vitrenko med sin konfiskering af UPS’ filer. I stedet opdagede Vitrenko den 4. feb., gennem en artikel i Glavkom med brandbombe-overskriften, »Domstol beslaglægger ejendom tilhørende organisation med Vitrenko som leder: mistanke om krænkelse af Ukraines territoriale integritet«, at SBU går frem med sit sagsanlæg, baseret på totalt falske beviser.
Idet hun påpeger, at Ukraines forfatning garanterer borgerne beskyttelse imod falske anklager, forklarer Vitrenko i videoen, hvad forsvarsaktiviteterne for menneskerettighederne i Livets Gave (stiftet 2000) rent faktisk var i 2012-14, hvorefter organisationen måtte indstille sine aktiviteter, fordi SBU fik dens konti indefrosset.
Vitrenko argumenterer i sin video med, at, hvis hendes økonomiske program var blevet vedtaget af Ukraine i midten af 1990’erne, da hun som parlamentsmedlem offentliggjorde det i opposition til Den Internationale Valutafonds foreskrevne deregulering og privatisering, ville Ukraine i dag have været en fremgangsrig nation; der ville ikke have været økonomiske vanskeligheder, som fik folk til at falde for kuparrangørernes slogans om det »bedre liv i Europa«, og der ville således ikke have været noget kup, intet tab af Krim og ingen opstand i Donbass, der førte til 10.000 menneskers død. Langt fra at »krænke« noget som helst, erklærer Vitrenko, at hendes program tværtimod ville have beskyttet Ukraine og garanteret landets fremtidige velstand i samarbejde med den generelle eurasiske udvikling.
Vitrenko har krævet, at artiklen fra 4. feb. på Glavcoms website trækkes tilbage, og i går udstedte hun sin appel til EU’s høje repræsentant for udenrigsanliggender og sikkerhedspolitik.
Foto: Dr. Natalia Vitrenko talte på en Schiller Institut-konference i april, 2013.
(Det følgende er Natalia Vitrenkos appel; engelsk)
Feb. 10, 2017
To the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini
To the Embassies in Ukraine of:
Germany
Belarus
Italy
The Peoples Republic of China
The Russian Federation
The United States of America
France
Cc
President of Ukraine P. Poroshenko
Prosecutor General of Ukraine Yu. Lutsenko
Minister of Internal Affairs A. Avakov
Head of the Security Service of Ukraine V. Hrytsak
Human Rights Ombudsmen of the Supreme Rada of Ukraine V. Lutkovska
Appeal of the Central Committee of the Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine:
Help Stop the Defamation of a Ukrainian Opposition Party and Its Leader Natalia Vitrenko!
The CC PSPU appeals to you to act for the cessation of the political defamation of an opposition party, the Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine, and its leader, Doctor of Economics, Peoples Deputy of Ukraine in the 2nd and 3rd Convocations, and first female Presidential candidate in the history of Ukraine, Natalia Vitrenko.
Despite the fact that Ukraine has signed and ratified an Association Agreement with the European Union and has assumed the obligation to ensure implementation of the norms and principles of European democracy (freedom of peaceful assembly, freedom of political activity, political pluralism, the right to a fair trial, the supremacy of law, the right to respect for one’s private life, the right to peacefully possess property, and the presumption of innocence), a policy of defamation, intimidation, persecution and discreditation is being carried out against our Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine, an opposition party. Its result is to hinder the political activity of our party.
We offer several examples by way of demonstration:
1. The Ministry of Justice of Ukraine has twice refused to register the decisions of the XXIX (8 Sept. 2015) and XXX (25 June 2016) Congresses of the PSPU on amending the Program and Charter of the PSPU in accordance with the requirements of the
Law of Ukraine on the condemnation of communist and national-socialist (Nazi) totalitarian regimes in Ukraine and the prohibition of propaganda of their symbols. The Ministry confronts the PSPU with unfounded claims, demonstratively refusing to work constructively on preparing the Congress documents.
2. The Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, ignoring the PSPU’s appeal, refuses to enter amendments to the composition of the party’s governing bodies as listed in the Register of Public Associations, which directly affects the legitimacy of the activity of the Central Committee of the PSPU, essentially blocking the activity of the party under its Charter.
3. Law enforcement agencies of Ukraine have conducted no investigation and have charged nobody in
– The beating, by Nazis from the Azov Battalion, of participants in a peaceful demonstration organized by the PSPU on 17 March 2016 in Kyiv;
– The forcible interference by neo-Nazis in the conduct of a legal peaceful demonstration by the PSPU on 9 May 2016 in Kyiv and the destruction of the PSPU’s party symbols.
4. The Security Service, Prosecutor’s Office, Ministry of Internal Affairs and courts of Ukraine, by their decisions, actions, and illegal non-action, allowed citizen A.E. Shatilin and neo-Nazis from the Azov Battalion to seize the premises of the PSPU’s central office on 28 October 2016, which had been rented since 2005 from the legal owner of the premises, the Siver Ukraina company. Tenants, besides the PSPU, also included other legal entities: the editorial offices of the PSPU newspaper Dosvitni ogni, the all-Ukraine women’s public organization Darzhizni (Gift of Life), the all-Ukraine public organization (AUPO) Eurasian Peoples Union, and the public organization (PO) Assembly of Orthodox Women of Ukraine. In addition to seizure of the premises, also seized were the PSPU’s charter documents, letterhead, party cards and the seal of the PSPU, party literature, party symbols, the party’s archive of its 20 years of activity, computer and duplicating equipment, personal data of the governing bodies and membership of the party, and personal belongings of PSPU Chairman N. Vitrenko and PSPU Deputy Chairman V. Marchenko.
The day after seizure of the premises, on 29 October 2016 an SBU investigator, in coordination with the prosecutor’s office, without a warrant, without a court ruling in its favor, and without informing the PSPU or the all-Ukraine women’s organization (AUWO) Dar Zhizni, conducted a research, resulting in the confiscation of property of the party and the Editorial Board of the PSPU party newspaper: hard disks with political journalistic information of the newspaper’s Editorial Board, literature, party documents, and personal belongings of Natalia Vitrenko and Vladimir Marchenko. The search and seizure of this property was conducted in the absence of any criminal or
administrative claims against the PSPU, but under the framework of a falsely fabricated criminal case, opened back in April 2014 against the AUWO Dar Zhizni, headed by Natalia Vitrenko. This politically motivated, completely unfounded and unproven criminal case had in effect been frozen for two and a half years.
A criminal case was opened on 29 October 2016 in the matter of the seizure of the premises and property of the PSPU and the editorial offices of the party newspaper; on 12 December 2016 the PSPU and the Editorial Board of Dosvitni ogni, the AUWO Dar
Zhizni, the AUPO Eurasian Peoples Union, and the PO Assembly of Orthodox Women of Ukraine, as well as N. Vitrenko and V. Marchenko personally, were recognized as aggrieved parties.
Nonetheless, neither the investigator in that case, the prosecutor’s office, nor the SBU has taken any action since that time (three and a half months!) in defense of the interests of the PSPU, the Editorial Board of the party newspaper, the public organizations, and the party leadership.
The appeals of PSPU Chairman N. Vitrenko to President of Ukraine P. Poroshenko, Prosecutor General of Ukraine Yu. Lutsenko, head of the Security Service of Ukraine V. Hrytsak, did not prompt them to defend the rights of the political party, the public
organizations, or the journalists.
In effect the PSPU has been deprived of the possibility of defending its rights in court. Even the legal owner of the premises, the Siver Ukraina company, is unable to lodge a complaint against the search and property-seizure actions of the SBU and the prosecutor’s office, because the case has not been transferred from the primary court (the Pechersky District Court of the city of Kyiv) to the Appeals Court of the city of Kyiv for two months, so far.
5. Furthermore, the Security Service of Ukraine and the prosecutor’s office, with the assistance of the investigating judge of the Pechersky District of the city of Kyiv, carried out searches on 18 November 2016 and 20 January 2016, and on 23 January 2017 property was seized by order of the court–property of persons unknown and having nothing whatsoever to do with the PSPU, Natalia Vitrenko, or the women’s organization she heads.
This search and seizure was done, it bears repeating, under the falsely fabricated criminal case against the all-Ukraine women’s public organization Dar Zhizni, which the Ukrainian government continues to use for purposes of defaming N. Vitrenko, accusing her of infringing the territorial integrity of Ukraine.
6. The Ukrainian media, carrying out political instructions to defame N. Vitrenko and make her a target for terrorists, publish false information on the basis of information from the SBU and the prosecutor’s office, and ascribed non-existent crimes to Natalia Vitrenko.
The Central Committee of the Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine is convinced that these actions by the Ukrainian authorities are politically motivated, for the purpose of impeding the activity of this opposition political party and its leader, Doctor of Economics, Peoples Deputy of Ukraine in the 2nd and 3rd convocations, and first female Presidential candidate in the history of Ukraine, Natalia Mikhailovna Vitrenko.
The CC PSPU asks you to consider our Appeal to help the PSPU, the Editorial Board of Dosvitni ogni newspaper, and the other public organizations named above, to carry out their lawful activity in accordance with the European Convention on Human Rights and the practice of the European Court of Human Rights, which the nation of Ukraine has undertaken the obligation to honor.
On behalf of the CC PSPU, Chairman of the PSPU, Natalia Vitrenko.
