Not all cases on meddling of officials in the election process are hopeless

On 12 October 2004 the Rivne town court considered the complaint of Valeriy Beylakh, an empowered person of candidate to President’s post Viktor Yushchenko. He complained against the illegal actions of Anatoliy Kaminskiy, the head of the Rivne district state administration, who, in his interview to Rivne interregional weekly “Slovo i chas”, agitated for Viktor Yanukovich. According to the Law of Ukraine “On election of the President of Ukraine” officials of the organs of executive power are prohibited from such actions. The court refused to satisfy the complaint of V. Beylakh.

The court decision was published in the newspaper “Slovo i chas”. The text of the decision was accompanied by A. Kaminskiy’s comment, in which he, in particular, stated: “I am repeating and will repeat: during several last years the present government, headed by Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich, made much more than previous governments in economic-social and humanitarian spheres”.

Valeriy Beylakh handed the complaint to the Appeal court of the Rivne oblast.

The court considered the presented materials and recognized that Anatoliy Kaminskiy had given the interview as an official and pointed out that the agitation might consist not only in the form of appeal to some actions but also in the attempts to persuasion of something or encouragement to something. So, the collegium of judges resolved to cancel the decision of the Rivne town court of 12 January 2004, to satisfy the complaint of Valeriy Beylakh and to recognize the actions of the head of the Rivne district state administration as illegal and violating the demands of the Law of Ukraine “On election of the President of Ukraine”.