today 19.06.2013 13:12
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Human Rights in Ukraine Information website of the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group |
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Yevhen Parfyonov, was attacked on Saturday night seemingly after being stopped by thugs who concluded on the basis of the fact that he was speaking Ukrainian that he was a “nationalist” 
Olaola Femi has been held in custody since November 2011 following an incident which the prosecution is claiming was attempted murder. An attempt to murder five people with a broken bottle would already raise eyebrows, but there are many other worrying aspects to this case. 
Andriy Dzindzy from the civic watchdog which monitors drivers’ rights is facing a charge of hooliganism over an incident reported here where he appeared to be set upon by people at an allegedly illegal private car impoundment site 
As of 10 December 2012, 1,545 people had been in SIZO or remand units without any conviction for over 18 months. 
65-year-old Halyna Shvydka was jailed for 10 days after she cut the President’s name off a wreath to the poet Taras Shevchenko. 
This is the second time this year that the same judge has tried to get the civic activist remanded in custody over a rather questionable case dating back 5 years The first time the Prosecutor intervened. 
Oleh Levytsky, UHHRU lawyer says that if Olaola Femi, arrested after defending himself against a group of assailants, is found guilty, then the case will need to be taken to the European Court of Human Rights 
The law which extends the powers of private security guards with regard to use of force and special means has been strongly criticized by human rights workers. 
Olaola Sunkami Femi has spent more than 9 months in a Ukrrainian SIZO despite clear evidence that he only defended himself when attacked by a group of drunk and racist louts 
Ihor Zavadsky’s lawyer says that her client is becoming blind while held in custody. Yevhenia Zakrevskaya says that although the police have completed their investigation, neither the accused nor his defence have been given the file material. 
On 9 April a protest was held outside the Leninsky District Court in Luhansk demanding the release of Olaola Sunkami Femi, who is accused of trying to kill 5 people who attacked him in the entrance to his apartment block on 5 November 2011. 
The charges against the former Governor and popular opposition politician in Kharkiv are ominously reminiscent of those against Tymoshenko, former Interior Minister Yury Lutsenko and others. Doubts as to the fairness of any trial in Ukraine would seem equally warranted 
Serhiy Kostakov, who spent seven and a half months in custody from December 2010 charged with blocking the road and damaging a car during the mass peaceful protest against the new Tax Code in November 2010, is presently in a European country where he has asked for asylum 
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 
There is no justification for the unlawful existence of this SIZO which, according to commitments made to the Council of Europe before Ukraine joined, was de jure closed in 2003 
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