OPEN APPEAL TO YURY YEKHANUROV AND SERHIY HOLOVATY
To the Prime Minister, Yury Yekhanurov
To the Minister of Justice of Justice, Serhiy Holovaty
23.02.06
Dear Prime Minister and Minister of Justice,
It is likely that thanks to the numerous formal requests for information from individuals, as well as the several civil suits lodged, that you have already begun to sense the significance to the public of the unlawful concealment from the public eye of normative acts. These are being secreted away under the illegal (not envisaged by any law of Ukraine) stamps restricting access: “Not to be printed”, “Not to be published” and “For official use only”.
The unlawfulness and therefore inadmissibility of continuing this shameful practice, as well as the urgent need to make available to the public ALL normative legal acts previously issued and classified as secret which do not fall under the force of the Law of Ukraine “On State secrets” are clear. We have been attempting to convey this to both the President of Ukraine and to you within the framework of the civic campaigns, supported by numerous activists as well as simply by concerned citizens of Ukraine,
“To be printed!” and “Come clean!”. We would assure you at this point that we will do all in our power to bring these campaigns to their own just conclusion, having ascertained for the people the truth about the regime’s activities, and in the first instance about those activities which are, not without cause, called “criminal”.
And whereas we see grounds for noting positive trends towards decreasing the flow of normative acts which are allocated illegal classification stamps, and remain unknown to the public, as compared to the analogous productions of your predecessors, when it comes to documents previously issued, we are forced to acknowledge that there has been a total lack of progress.
In particular, we find astounding the lack of will of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine to disclose the contents of 96 (at least) illegally classified acts issued by the government under the premiership of Viktor Yanukovych. We are, in addition, appalled by the behaviour of officials of the Cabinet of Ministers and Ministry of Justice in either entirely disregarding formal requests for information from members of the public, this being a flagrant violation of the Law of Ukraine “On Information”, or in sending formal letters or rejections, referring to normative by-laws.
We would once again stress that in accordance with Article 19 of the Constitution of Ukraine, bodies of state power and their officials are obliged to act only on the grounds, within the limits of authority, and in the manner envisaged by the Constitution and the laws of Ukraine, and therefore reference to any by-law has no legal value, which we will prove in a court of law.
However, bearing in mind that you are in office under the orange banner, declaring the slogans we upheld on Maidan (not to mention the fact that we would simply hope to be able to consider you competent state officials, patriots, and first and foremost, honest people), we are extremely surprised by your stubborn resistance to achieving this without recourse to the courts. We will try to refrain from looking around for and then making public an answer to the question “who benefits?” with regard to the continued classification of acts signed by Yanukovych. For now, that is, we will try to refrain, however our patience is wearing thin.
What is stopping you, Mr Yekhanurov, number one of the candidate list for the People’s Union, from informing the people before the elections about the activities of your main opponent?
What is preventing you, Mr Minister of Justice, from implementing the law and ensuring consistent behaviour from your Ministry given that the latter has already (in Letter №С-32705-22 from 21.01.06) recognized that the use of stamps restricting access and not allowed for by law is unlawful.?
And finally, what is stopping both of you from being governed by the Constitution and Laws of Ukraine, and not by a sub-legislative (contravening the Constitution) Decree of Leonid Kuchma? The latter has not been President now for some time.
Why are we forced to go to court to win our legally guaranteed right to find out the truth (relating furthermore to the previous regime on the other side of the barricades?
We, therefore, as citizens of Ukraine who have the right to demand that the state and its officials adhere to the Constitution and Laws of Ukraine, and as taxpayers whose money goes towards financing both the Cabinet of Ministers and the Ministry of Justice:
DEMAND:
That no later than 20.03.06 the demands of the Constitution of Ukraine and the Law of Ukraine “On information” be complied with, and that the texts of 96 normative acts passed by the government under Viktor Yanukovych, bearing the stamps restricting access not envisaged by any laws of Ukraine, be made public, in particular, through their publication in the official bulletin “Uradyovy kuryer” [“Government Messenger”]
If these demands are not met, we reserve the right to draw appropriate conclusions and take action accordingly.
Yours sincerely,
Viktor Harbar, the “Maidan” Alliance, Kharkiv
Natalka Zubar, the “Maidan” Alliance, Kharkiv
Maryana Svarnyk, the “Maidan” Alliance, Lviv
Oleksandr Severyn, the “Maidan” Alliance, Kyiv
You may add your signature to this appeal here:
http://www2.maidanua.org/news/view.php3?bn=maidan_petit&key=1140689178&trs=-1
Simply press the word "відповідь" [“respond”] and sign your name.
United we will win!