MENU
Documenting
war crimes in Ukraine

The Tribunal for Putin (T4P) global initiative was set up in response to the all-out war launched by Russia against Ukraine in February 2022.

Search of Poet’s Home – No need for fear, colleagues and human rights activists advise

21.01.2011    source: www.dw-world.de

The police recently carried out a search of the home of writers Maryna Bratsylo and Yury Nohy. Some writers and civic activists believe this to be intimidation while human rights activists advise people to know their rights and not be afraid.

The search of the home of poet Maryna Bratsylo and employee of the Smoloskyp Publishing Company, Yury Nohy, was on the basis of a warrant from a Zaporizhya court over the case around the explosion which destroyed the bust to Stalin in Zaporizhya.

According to writer Serhiy Pantyuk and National Deputy, Oles Doniy, who cite Bratsylo and Nohy as their source, a computer was removed, as well as flash drives, compact disks, mobile telephones, notebooks with poems and a camera.

Maryna Bratsylo is from Zaporizhya and the couple spent New Year with her parents. On the evening of 31 December the bust to Stalin was destroyed by an explosion. Nobody has been able to contact the writers themselves, however Serhiy Pantyuk says that the case is being run by the Security Service [SBU] Investigation Department on Fighting Terrorism. He believes that the search is an attempt at intimidation. He says that the couple are not members of any political organization.  On the other hand, spokesperson for the SBU Maryna Ostapenko said that the search was carried out by the police and that the SBU was not involved.  She said that the investigation into the destruction of the bust is continuing.

Civic activist from Zaporizhya Dmytro Kharkov who previously demanded through the courts that the monument be removed believes that the search was a demonstrative act of intimidation.

Both writer Larisa Denysenko and human rights activist Yevhen Zakharov are adamant that there is no need to be frightened, and that it is important to know ones rights. Ms Denysenko notes that the search began at 6.00 a.m. giving grounds for lodging a complaint since searches are carried out during normal working hours, for 9.00 to 18.00.

Mr Zakharov advises complaining about the removal of the above-listed if there was no court permit, and if there was – asking them to return the things. As far as he knows, the couple have no link with the organization Tryzub which is suspected of involvement and says that the problem is in the general rough manner in which the police carry out their functions.

Human rights activist and psychologist, Viktor Pushkar is convinced that such attention to writers by the police constitutions political harassment and that this does considerable damage to the regime’s image.

From an article by Olha Vesnyanka at http://dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,14775588,00.html

 Share this