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Human Rights in Ukraine. Website of the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group |
In the latest repressive measure against activists who took part in the EuroMaidan car rally to the president’s highly controversial residence at Mezhyhirya, traffic police officers have stopped the car of Serhiy Poyarkov, Kyiv artist and one of the leaders of AutoMaidan | detail
The latest target of illegal visitations by traffic police officers is the Lviv Greek Catholic priest, Father Mykhailo Dymyd, who has been ministering to members of the Lviv EuroMaidan | detail
Ukraine’s traffic police are as notorious as the country’s roads, and both are best avoided. This is not an option for people taking part in the EuroMaidan peaceful protests and current interference and pressure seem likely to increase with the creation of a new special force unit | detail
Exactly one month after Berkut riot police savagely dispersed hundreds of entirely peaceful pro-EU protesters on Maidan Nezalezhnosti, EuroMaidan activists will be holding a candle-lit gathering in the same place to demand answers from Prosecutor General Viktor Pshonka | detail
The sixth EuroMaidan Sunday rally in central Kyiv was the first since Tetyana Chornovol was brutally beaten last week, and was followed by a car rally to Yanukovych’s controversial residence at Mezhyhirya and other high-ranking officials’ properties | detail
The arson attack which destroyed Ivan Varchenko’s car came in the 15 minutes that the car was unattended, and follows an incident which the police are ignoring where a deliberately unscrewed wheel could have caused a dangerous accident | detail
In the latest arson attack In Kharkiv, a car belonging to people providing tea and sandwiches to the EuroMaidan demonstrators was deliberately set alight | detail
Dmytro Pylypets, a civic activist and co-organizer of the EuroMaidan protest in Kharkiv was seriously attacked on Tuesday evening The assailants did not demand anything and silently sprayed a gas in his face, issued blows to the head and abdomen and stabbed him 12 times | detail
Both Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have demanded that the Ukrainian authorities properly investigate the violence against peaceful pro-EU protesters and punish those responsible. They also condemn measures aimed at intimidating police victims | detail
Serhiy Radchenko, one of the peaceful protesters who disappeared after the brutal attack by Berkut riot police on Nov 30 has been found alive, though in a very bad state. Three people remain missing. | detail
On Dec 19 the Verkhovna Rada adopted a draft bill which apparently provides an amnesty for those who took part in the EuroMaidan protests while not protecting those guilty of beating up peaceful protesters. How much it will achieve this is, unfortunately, not so clear. | detail
The Association of Ukrainian Human Rights Monitors on Law Enforcement [UMDPL] have prepared a legal analysis of the actions taken by law enforcement officers during the dispersing of peaceful protesters on Maidan Nezalezhnosti on Nov 30 and during the Dec 1 confrontation on Bankova St. | detail
Oleh Martynenko from OZON observed the demonstration on European Square in support of the president. He reports a modest turnout, but vast numbers of Party of the Regions flags and wholesale drunkenness which the police turned a blind eye to | detail
We urge the International Democratic Community not to believe the provocations of the security services, resolutely condemn the violence by the current Government of Ukraine and support the aspirations of the Ukrainian people toward Freedom and Democracy. | detail
The most urgent thing the EU should do is to send a very clear signal that no violence will be tolerated. This signal should be sent not in words, but in deeds | detail
Following the use of force against peaceful protesters on EuroMaidan, the community of the Ukrainian Catholic University [UCU] has announced a policy of civil disobedience with respect to the president and his government | detail
Long live the heroes of Maidan who have stood up to the special forces and made it through the threat and cold of the night warming the hearts of the world by their peaceful witness! | detail
Several thousand Berkut or Interior Ministry troops stormed the barricades in the centre, with people singing the national anthem, chanting “Police with the People” and “Together to the end”. People have been arriving through the night to defend Maidan | detail
Further use of force by Ukrainian authorities should lead to the immediate imposition of targeted sanctions by the United States and European Union against Ukrainian officials responsible for such actions | detail
While attention has deservedly been paid to the excessive use of force which the Berkut riot police have applied against peaceful protesters, other measures, including the worrying detention and criminal charges against 9 demonstraters are also aimed at crushing the protest and are equally unacceptable. | detail
