THE TROUBLED TIMES

What is the cost of coal in Ukraine?

Again miners were buried after the methane explosion in the mine named after the 19th Congress of the Communist Party. The number of the victims was 24 but 4 had not been found.

By June 1998 194 miners perished in Ukrainian mines: 180 in the state owned mines, 6 in rented mines, and 8 in privately owned mines. The greatest catastrophe happened in the mine named after Skochinsky in Donetsk, where 63 miners died as a result of a methane explosion.

All in all, there are 240 mines in the country, one million of tonnes of coal costs 4 lives.

Our informant

Vandalism again

A shameful and disgusting act was recently committed in Kharkov. Memorial plates were broken and trampled on the monument erected on the place of the Kharkov Jewish ghetto during the fascist occupation. This act of vandalism was found out by a team of constructive workers that came to renovate the architectural ensemble, because it was planned to put flowers there in honor of the 55th anniversary of liberating Kharkov from fascist occupants.

Our informant

***

As became known from trustworthy sources, in the town precinct of Liubotin (Kharkov region) in the office of a detective a 20-year-old jobless detained on suspicion of theft hanged himself. Witnesses assert that the detective all this time did not leave his office.

'Kyevskiye vedomosti', 25 July 1998

CRISIS

Unemployment

I. Sakhan, the Minister of labour and social welfare, informed that out of 16 million people working in the national economy 3.3 million are in the forced leaves without pay or work part time. By 1 July 1998 the list of jobless at the employment centers counted 824.8 people, 17 candidates for one vacancy.

'Kyevskiye vedomosti', 4 August 1998

Protest actions

On 31 July from 9 to 17 o'clock the movement of trains via the station of Kazatin, Vinnitsa region, was paralyzed. Pensioners blocked the rail tracks demanding their pensionss. By 17: 00 hours the money was found and the protestants went home.

'Kyevskiye vedomosti', 5 August 1998

Circulus viciosus

In Ivano-Frankivsk salaries are not given to those budget workers which have debts in paying rents. It was a decision of the local executive committee.

'Molod Ukrainy', No.93, 13 August 1998

Pay arrears are growing

According to the data of the National Bank of Ukraine the total sum of pay arrears for the first half of 1998 equals 5996.8 million grivnas (by the first January it was 4907.8 million grivnas). The state budget organizations owe 909.5 . The total sum of pay arrears by three or more months equals 4501.8 million grivnas .

The territorial distribution of the debts differs from region to region. In the decreasing order Donetsk region has the debt is 890 million grivnas, in Dnepropetrovsk -- 574 million grivnas, in Lugansk -- 530 million grivnas, in Kharkov 332.5 million grivnas.

After materials of Ukrainian press

POLITICAL LIFE

Election has begun

M. Pelykh, Kharkov

The title looks right, as many consider, not premature, since recently some burglars broke into the office of Kharkov region organization of the Social-Democratic Party of Ukraine. The burglars took out the hard disk with the analytical information on the passed parliamentary election and recommendations on the new election of the President. The information on the reserve of party leaders was also taken.

HUMAN RIGHTS PROTECTION

Who will stop the arbitrary actions?

Evhen Zakharov

Perhaps nobody could suppose that the nightmare of Nikanor Ivanovitch Bosoy, a personage from Bulgakov's novel 'Master and Margarita', about chiselling the hard currency by the authorities, will become reality 70 years later in Kyev. Closely following the scene from the novel, Valeriy Pustovoytenko, the Prime-Minister of Ukraine, detained and kept managers of enterprises and administration heads in the palace 'Ukraine', until they signed the needed (and -- alas -- unfulfillable) promises; then the Prime-Minister forced them to give in half of their monthly salaries, expropriated their service cars, ordered them to take part in five-day maneuvers in civil defence, and promised to force them to spread manure in the fields. Such methods of collecting debts to the pension fund and budget makes me ashamed for my country.

Not only hundreds of authorities and managers have been humiliated. We all have got a lesson how to twist arms in public without taking into account what is respectable and what is brutal. They tried to convince us that all was legal and correct, the more so that the newly elected General Prosecutor benevolently attended this happening, demonstrating that all was right, although his direct duty was to stop this beastly abuse of human rights and freedoms. It looks that this violation of the Constitution and other laws were approved both by the President and by the majority of the Supreme Rada of Ukraine. The public did not protest, most people seemed to be satisfied: at last the guilty were found.

It seems obvious that it is impossible to extract debts by such methods. If Mr Pustovoytenko is unable to replenish the budget in other ways, it would be better for him to retire. Recently he has promised to apply 'non-adequate measures' in the struggle with the shade economy. Perhaps, we would see a new uprisal of lawlessness and abuse. I believe that the Prime-Minister's methods must be seriously analyzed in the Supreme Rada and in the President's administration.

The lessons of violence and disregard of citizens' dignity never made a society richer and happier. Observance of human rights must become a foundation of the political activity, and ignoring them testifies on the complete misunderstanding of the modern tendencies of development.

The Kharkiv Group for human rights protection directed the corresponding appeal to the Supreme Rada, to the President's administration and to the ombudsperson of the Supreme rada.

VIOLATIONS OF LAW

'Democracy' triumphs in Odessa

Yu. Kornilov, Odessa

'The second tour' of the election of the city mayor is going on, this time in the conditions of 'democracy'. The acting mayor appointed to his post by the illegal President's edict puts the city in order and introduces 'democracy'. I shall try to explain the specific brand of democracy in Odessa.

The mass media are in the fist of the notorious former governor R. B. Bodelan. This old Communist Party executive is eager to hitch to an administrative armchair. The former governor prefers the armchair of the mayor of Odessa.

Only in July Odessa television gave him the screen time for 4, 500 grivnas, whereas by law a candidate is allowed to spend 850 grivnas for all the campaign. The elective committee discusses how to fairly distribute the TV time and newspaper pages among all the candidates. The elective committee is discussing and Bodelan is acting. Leaflets (unregistered in the committee) appeared in many mailboxes. Bodelan's portraits appeared in many shop windows, ten lorries wonder in the city: they distribute cheap bread, organize concerts, shows and other recreations, advertising Bodelan's name. The elective committee should get interested, but it is too busy, fighting with Gurvits, the undesirable candidate. After all Gurvits was crossed out of the deputies list. The procedure was quite correct: during voting 4 were 'for', 6 where 'against' and 5 abstained. But the law says that such decisions are taken by 'the majority of votes from the complete composition of the committee', then the majority of 15 members is 8 or more! The case was claimed in the Zhovtnevy court. The judge, counted as well (or rather as badly) as the members of the elective committee. The complaints to the city prosecutor failed.

The elective committee treats Gurvits's supporters with the same objectivity. V. I. Kochetov, the president of the Odessa human rights protecting academy of consumers, handed the documents for being registered as a candidate to the mayor's position. He was refused under the pretext that his program was compiled incorrectly. In the program it was written that 'the right of the force triumphs over the force of the right' in Odessa. Everyone can see with a naked eye that this assessment is right. Nonsense, -- stated the committee, -- because it contradicts to Article 8 of the Constitution, where the superiority of the right is stated. A very interesting interpretation of the Constitution! Further it is said in the program that 'certain forces' violate the Constitution and civil rights of the city inhabitants. Incorrect, -- said the elective committee, -- the pretender knows these forces and must turn to the prosecutor's office. The Zhovtnevy court approved of this decision.

Such is our Odessa democracy, raped and crucified. All follows the ancient law: one violation of the law implies another. And so on.

Again tortures

Frankovsky district precinct in Lvov searched thieves who stole computers from the forest institute and vocation school No.27.

On 13 May at 8 o'clock the deputy director of the school called for militia and passed to them Yury Gorobets and Yaroslav Bosyi, students of the third year of studies. In the morning the boys' faces were clean and healthy. The boys were kept in the precinct. When Yury Gorobets' mother saw her son at 18: 00 in Frankovsky precinct, she was terrified. Later she told: 'Yury walked staggering, in dirty clothes. His left ear was swollen and he had a black eye. Being released, he could not even lie down. He told that militiamen beat him on the most painful spots, threw against the wall, kicked the stool from under him and then kicked him, twisted legs and arms. It all resembled torture in gestapo or NKVD. They threatened to kill him. Yury kept asking: "Do not beat me on the head, I've had an operation recently and can become blind"'. Student Yaroslav Bosyi also told that he was tortured.

After all this the students were released as innocent.

'Kyevskiye vedomosti', 23 June 1998

A funeral parlor of laws

Aleksandr Bukalov, Donetsk

Up to 1983 Boris Dedenko worked as a constructive worker in a building firm with the wages of 160 roubles. Then, unfortunately, he got a trauma of his hand during the work. He was dismissed and given the invalid pension of 92 roubles. At that time pensions were paid regularly. Then the country got a trauma, and for Boris Didenko it had tragic consequences. The administration of the building company, starting from 1992, step by step diminished the pension. By January 1996 it contracted to 4 grivnas, and since September it has disappeared. So, in October 1996 Boris Didenko handed his claim to Tsentral-nogorodskoy district of the town of Makeyevka and since that time he started to appreciate the delights of the Ukrainian court machine.

The court session was postponed six times. The defendant did not come twice, then he forgot the needed documents, then the judge found out that a certain document was missing, which she had to demand from the defendant. She sent the plaintiff to get it. Then the defendant allegedly went away for holidays. The plaintiff checked: the defendant was in his office.

At last in June 1997 the trial began. The court ruled that the building firm had to pay 478 grivnas for 76 months during which he got nothing. That gave Mr Didenko 6.3 grivnas per month, instead of 92 roubles that had been paid to him by the Soviet power. Didenko also asked 3, 400 grivnas for moral damage, but the court declined the insolent demand.

Immediately after the trial the judge went on leave and she prohibited her secretary to give the court ruling to the plaintiff.

The plaintiff protested, the case was returned to the region court for another consideration. Again the court session was postponed six times. On 12 December 1997 the court ruled to demand a decision of the accountant expertise. The case was suspended.

Later, on 9 June 1998, it was resumed. Femida's servants did not like the results of the expertise and disregarded it completely.

'In any civilized country the judge would be judged for such antics. What is Ukraine? A state or a lunatic asylum?', -- as the plaintiff commented. The court ruling was declared on 9 June, and it could be cassated during ten days. Nonetheless, the text of the ruling was handed to the plaintiff on 25 June. The reasons were quite convincing: first there were no paper, then the typewriter broke, then there was no carbon paper. The text of the resolution was given to Mr Didenko only after his fourth complaint directed to the court chairman V. Zabelin.

On 26 June Didenko tried to hand the cassation but it was not accepted since the term of the cassation expired.

The court has already lasted for 20 months, almost twice longer than the Nurnberg process. Plaintiff Didenko has the moral right to call the Ukrainian court a funeral parlor of laws and citizens.

Are they mere court mistakes?

R. Mukhamedjanov, Dnepropetrovsk

The great lawyer of the past A. F. Kony used to say: 'So-called "court mistakes" are not always caused by an honest error of judgement or unhappy combination of circumstances'. He meant that court mistakes sometimes stem form criminal purposes. This enables amoral and stupid people to keep the judges mantle for years, instead of wearing convict's uniform.

We know many cases when helpless people are killed in order to grab their flats. The newspaper 'Ukraina moloda' of 10 April, 1998 told about a revolting case when Logvinenko A. A., the judge of the Kirovsky district court of the city of Dnepropetrovsk, captured the flat of the accused Yuriy Druzhinin, who died suddenly and mysteriously on one of the days (different in different documents) during his court trial. According to one set of documents, he died on 24 December, 1996; according to another set of documents, he died two days later. Two reasons of death are diagnosed: heart failure (Druzhinin never suffered from heart diseases) and acute poisoning by alcohol surrogates (which hardly can be obtained in the prison cell). The Ukrainian section of the International Society of human rights investigated the matter and found out that Druzhinin died in the intense care ward, to be exact, in the hall before it, where, in contrast to the official documents, no medical aid was administered to him, since it was too late. The time of his arrival to the intense care was not mentioned in any documents. Later his dead body was taken to the hospital mortuary, circumventing the bureau of forensic medicine since its head expressed assurance that Druzhinin died a violent death.

Judge Logvinenko forced the lock of Druzhinin's flat. Maybe he is not guilty of killing his client, but certainly the case is suspicious. But all the claims directed to the court get the response: 'The directorate of justice possesses no compromising materials'.

Human rights protection activists from Dnepropetrovsk came across first with the judicial activities of judge Logvinenko in 1994. The claim considered in the court was that a certain election was carried out by the regional administration with numerous violations of the procedure. Logvinenko's task was to terminate the case. He did it with great dexterity. The summons to the court session held on 23 of some month were sent to the claimants on 29. The claimants were reprimanded and the trial did not occur. For the next session the claimants were summoned during another, criminal, trial and the claimants were not admitted to the courtroom. For the third time the claimants were forced to leave the court session to express their protest against Logvinenko, since he refused their protest orally, without leaving a trace in the minutes.

Next time we encountered Logvinenko two years later when he sentenced L. L. Glezin, a 59-year-old human right protector from Zaporozhye. Engineer Glezin was sentenced to one year of imprisonment according to Part 2, Article 206 of the Penal Code of Ukraine for spiteful hooliganism, because he expressed his protest when he was refused the admittance (during the reception hours) by deputy chairman of Zaporozhye region court Kucheruk. During all the three court sessions Mr Glezin protested that his case was considered without the advocate. Judge Logvinenko retorted that Glezin himself refused from the services of the advocate. In the actual fact Glezin did not refuse from the advocate, the advocate was appointed to him, but then was replaced by another without any motives; that was the reason of Glezin's protest.

As we see, Logvinenko is a member of that shameful part of Ukrainian judges that professionally deal in falsifying the truth, but this is not all his merits. In Glezin's case, before the verdict came to the legal force, he ordered to incarcerate an elderly man and directed him to the preliminary prison to another town, did not send the sentence for more than a month, then kept the cassation for more than a month, then went on leave without preparing the case for considering in the cassation court. All that postponed the release of Glezin for 15 weeks.

The same year Logvinenko considered the case of a drunken woman who waved a knife before the face of her neighbor. The woman was accused of the same Article 206, Part 2, but Logvinenko reconsidered it to Part 1 and softened the punishment to 15 grivnas fine (we wrote about it in 'Prava Ludyny' in 1997).

Simultaneously, Logvinenko sentenced journalist V. Ryzhkov according to Part 2 of Article 125 of the Penal Code of Ukraine for libel. There were four victims of the libel: General Prosecutor of Ukraine G. Vorsinov and three other top executives of Dnepropetrovsk region prosecutor's office. The libel consisted in the fabrication of the false information about taking bribes and putting them to their bank accounts.

Ryzhkov described how judge Logvinenko manipulated with the truth in this case. To put it in a nutshell:

- He did not assess the circumstances which clearly elucidated the nonobjective Ryzhkov's case investigation by the workers of Dnepropetrovsk prosecutor's office, since all of them are subordinated to the top executives, whose affair was investigated. In particular, nobody proved that the author of the publication in the newspaper 'Dnepropetrovsk' was Ryzhkov. A press conference was held by the top executives and the Vorsinov, the General Prosecutor of Ukraine, declared that Ryzhkov's guilt had been already proved and that he, Vorsinov, personally selected the preventive punishment. During the trial Logvinenko specially noticed that there had been no pressure on Ryzhkov before the trial.

- Not a single of the four victims of the libel was interrogated, and out of 33 witnesses only 7 were questioned. The court summoned neither witness Vakhtangov, who was the source of the information on the bank accounts, nor editor Zemlianoy, who edited the article allegedly written by Ryzhkov.

- Judge Logvinenko, threatening Ryzhkov by incarceration, forced the latter to come to the trial with the broken leg.

The main argument which served the basis of the verdict was the conclusion that Ryzhkov was the author of the article. The argumentation of this point was original: 'Since the article is not signed and the law permits the anonymous publication, then the author of the article is Ryzhkov.' The argument was repeated in the verdict: 'The argument of the accused that he is not the author of the article is invalid since, by Article 26 of the Ukrainian law 'On printed mass media in Ukraine', a journalist has the right to publish his materials anonymously.'

There are many more examples of judge Logvinenko's activities but the above-quoted verdicts show that they are not mistakes or even blunders. Here the question is how to protect innocent people from the premeditated unjust decisions.

A judge's complaint is not satisfied

Recently in Kyev a meeting of the Supreme Council of justice was held, chaired by Valeriy Evdokimov. Among other questions the Council considered the complaint of the deputy chairman of Zaporozhye region court Yuri Svetlichny (who, by the way, presided at the court of Mikhail Krylov, an organizer of miners' strikes). Judge Svetlichny complained against the decision of the High qualifying commission of Ukrainian judges which dismissed him from judges for brutal violations of the procedural law. The Supreme Council of justice did not satisfy the complaint and did not cancel the decision of the High qualifying commission.

According to materials of the press service of the Supreme Council of justice

ON THE BOTH SIDES OF PRISON BARS

Militia officer detained

V. Lubchenko, Vinnitsa

Lieutenant colonel Mykola Chornomaz from Ilinetsky district precinct ran over some minors. The witnesses of the accident were struck by the measure of the motorist's intoxication: he did not understand the situation. Nevertheless, the medical expertise gave out the analysis that certified the absence of alcohol in lieutenant colonel's blood. Only when the parents of the victims interfered and turned to Kyev, the officer was detained. Now a criminal case has been started.

Subsequent amnesty

B. Aleksandrov, Donetsk

This autumn about five thousand colony inmates will leave their places of incarceration in Donetsk region.

The courts of Donetsk region have to consider about ten thousand of applications to be amnestied. According to preliminary estimates about 4, 700 convicts will be relesed and about 6, 000 condemned to other punishments, not connected with incarceration, will be pardonned. Some suspects under crime investigation will be also released and a large category of convicts can hope for shortening their terms.

According to the data on 1 July of the current year, 15 colonies of the region with the total capacity of 20, 200 contained 26, 600, while the three preliminary prisons with the total capacity of 3, 700 contained 5, 300 inmates still awaiting the verdict of our slow courts. If to take into account the colonies for compulsory treatment of alcoholism, all in all there were 32, 365 convicts in the region. Last year their number was approximately the same: 32, 531. The last year amnesty released 4, 205 convicts and 3, 399 more were released on bail. During a year all these 'vacancies' have been filled up. The present amnesty, as all previous ones, will not terminate the overpopulation but will for a very short term diminish it from 8 to 3 thousand extra convicts.

As Yuri Nakhay, the head of the department on surveillance from the region prosecutor's office, remarked, the present amnesty would be applied to a wider circle of inmates of the penitentiary system. For example, not only minor criminals would get a chance to be released, but also those who were below 18 years at the moment of the crime. Convicts who have parents older than 70 having no other children to support them would get a chance for freedom. If a convict has minor children, then he has the chance to be released; in the past amnesties it concerned only men who bred their children without mother. The number of articles, where the amnesty was not applied, is considerably narrowed. Now among amnestied criminals one could see smugglers, money-fakers, robbers, chisellers, racketeers, producers and pushers of drugs, rapists and those who tried to escape. On the other hand, the new prohibitions have been introduced: swindlers, connected with adopting children or trading people, making, storing and selling firearms and explosives, may not be amnestied.

Yu. Nakhay believes that the amnestied criminals are all small fry in the criminal world, so their release cannot be regarded as dangerous for the society. Nonetheless, 1705 inmates of the strict-regime colonies are expected to be amnestied. They are all recidivists. Also about 1500 inmates of the strengthened-regime colonies will be released. All these estimates are approximate; the practice shows that in the actual fact the number of the released in each category will be larger by 500-600 people. This is due to the fact that in the course of the amnesty circumstances are elucidated that permit to release more people.

Along with inmates of colonies another category of the people, whose punishment is not connected with imprisonment, will be amnestied. These are people released on bail or sentenced to coercive works. Although they are not incarcerated, they stay under a permanent control on the side of the militia, they must periodically come to precincts to be checked. Recently our courts have begun to apply such punishments much more often, and nowadays the number of the punished without incarceration is about 17 thousand. The last amnesty released 2571 people from militia surveillance, now about one third of this category will be released from the oversight.

Yu. Nakhay understands that the demands of the law on granting jobs to the released convicts cannot be fulfilled. At present a respectable citizen has difficulties in finding a job. How many acting enterprises will agree to hire a person with a criminal past? Local organs of the Ministry of Interior must assist the released convicts in finding jobs, but practically their efforts are fruitless. So one is not surprised when hears about such a typical case: a man leaves the repellent walls of the colony, suffers for some time without living accommodation and a job, starves and, finally, commits a crime to return to the known shelter and to the scarce but guaranteed food. He does it not because he is a born criminal, but because there is no way out of the post-release situation. In theory, the prosecutor's office has to oversight those facets of the amnesty that concern employment. But Yu. Nakhay cannot recollect a single case when a former criminal complained to the law enforcing organs, including the prosecutor's office. The convicts seem not to trust in these organizations.

The amnesty, beside releasing about 10, 000 convicts, will touch a large category of those who will not be released, but their terms of punishment will be considerably shortened. The number of the convicts who enter this category is difficult to estimate now. The information will be more precise by the middle of November.

MASS MEDIA

Journalism is a dangerous profession, not only in Ukraine

The 'Fund of protection of glastnost' held a press-conference, where it was informed that during the last two months 154 crimes and felonies connected with the activity of journalists have occurred. Four journalists were killed: Georgiy Chaniya, a correspondent of the newspaper 'Resonance', was killed in Georgia; Meirhaim Gavrielov, a 70-year-old editor-in-chief of the newspaper 'Donish', was killed in the capital of Tadzhikistan; in Russia Larisa Yudina, the editor-in-chief of the newspaper 'Sovetskaya Kalmykiya', and Igor Lykov, major of militia, who published articles in Russian newspapers, were killed. Out of the last two victims the death of Yudina had a great public resonance, but the violent death of the major, who had recently investigated the criminal activity of the groups trading in children, remained practically unnoticed. According to the data made public by the Fund, the majority of murders of newsmen remain undisclosed, because of the unsatisfactory work of the law enforcing agencies plus the opposition between mass media and authorities.

Our informant

The second most dangerous profession

Journalism is known to be the second most ancient profession, but in our country it also seems the second more dangerous profession, after tamers of wild beasts.

In Lviv a correspondent of the newspaper 'Den' Aleksandr Syrtsov was attacked by strangers and later taken to the nearest hospital. This attack on a journalist is far from being the first, but militia can never find the guilty.

'Kievskiye vedomosti', 2 July 1998

***

Sergey Odarych, a journalist of the newspaper 'My', oppositional to the President, got a firearm wound in the leg. He was shot in a street by a stranger. As it became known, he prepared a sensational material on the criminal affairs in medicine. The investigator of the crime put out a version that the journalist shot himself.

'Kievskiye vedomosti', 1 August 1998

***

A wounded TV-journalist of Lugansk program 'Criminal' Aleksandr Kharchenko was taken to a hospital. He was attacked by strangers it a street. They hit him on the head and stole the briefcase with a script of a new feature.

'Molod Ukrainy', 11 August 1998

***

Journalists from Kirovograd are very much worried with the situation around the local mass media since many claims with astronomical sums are directed to the local courts for libel. In their declaration to the local authorities and the public they say: 'There are examples of unconstrained libel claims against the editorial boards of the newspapers 'Narodne slovo', 'Kanal 21', 'Vechirniaya gazeta', 'Kirovogradska pravda', 'Ukraina-tsentr', as well as to television and radio stations. For instance, the total sum of damages required from 'Vechirniaya gazeta' exceeds 850, 000 grivnas, which is more than three times its annual budget. The claim to 'Kanal 21' is 200, 000 grivnas. The tendency of all these claims is to intimidate mass media, to restrict the freedom of speech and merely enrich themselves at the account of mass media.'

'Golos Ukrainy', No. 128, 1998

ARMY

First alternative servicemen

Last year the Donetsk regional commission of alternative service distributed to civil jobs 49 persons who did not want to serve in the army owing to their religious convictions. The majority of 'alternative servicemen' belong to the Evangelist church.

Nowadays 33 people work in the communal services, 6 work in the social welfare, 6 -- in medical aid, 2 -- in agriculture. Their jobs are: male nurse, street sweeper, social welfare agent, a worker of psychoneurological hospital, motor ambulance nurse, road builder, social welfare agent for servicing old people, etc. All in all 259 people perform alternative services. The term of the alternative services is three years, one year more than in the military service. If an alternative serviceman changes his mind (recently it has happened with one of them), then he will be directed to the military service, and the term of the alternative service will not be included.

A. B., our informant

Lieutenant-colonel v. private

The court martial of Darnitsa garrison considered the criminal case of beating private Petro Fazan by lieutenant-colonel Pavlo Mishchenko. On the ordnance yard of the military unit A-0338 (settlement Devichki of Kyev region) the lieutenant-colonel hit private Fazan with his fist on the midriff, slapped him on the head and kicked him in the crotch.

According to the words of the commanding officer, the lieutenant-colonel was nervous since the arrival of the Prime-Minister was expected.

The court verdict was the fine of 450 grivnas.

The military prosecutor of the Darnitsa garrison intends to lodge a complaint against this decision.

'Kievskiye vedomosti', 4 July 1998

Another suicide

Valeriy Tretyak served in the unit A-3084 (Kharkov region).

During seven days on end his mates mocked at him, tormented him and at last drove him to suicide. Two soldiers: Yuri Tarasenko and Sergey Barsay have been sentenced to six years of imprisonment in the colony of the strict regime, two others: Sergey Yakushenko and Pavlo Kulichenko have been sentenced to 18 months in the penal battalion.

'Kievskiye vedomosti', 7 July 1998

The number of AIDS-infected servicemen grows

In 1995 15 AIDS-infected servicemen were found out, in 1996 the corresponding number was 56, in 1997 the number grew to 86, during the first quarter of this year 42 AIDS-infected were found.

'Kievskiye vedomosti', 8 July 1998

MEDICINE

Further reduction of the medical personnel

By the end of 1998 other 50, 000 of the medical staff will be cut down, additionally to 97, 000 that had been cut down in 1997.

This is done in accordance with two edicts of the President of Ukraine and several resolutions of the Cabinet of Ministers on the number of personnel of budget organizations with the aim of preventing the financial crisis.

The administration of medicine must cut down every tenth employee and to reduce the number of hospital beds to 80 per 10, 000 of the population.

RELIGION

Nontraditional confessions

Last year about 2.6 thousand of representatives of foreign religious centers were present in Ukraine, 420 of them carried out the direct missionary activities. They founded the most part of nontraditional religious organizations, some of them being of destructive character, especially dangerous for youths. For example, the religious community 'Witnesses of Yegova' in Lviv region agitate teenagers to refuse to serve in the armed forces of Ukraine.

The community of satanists is growing. According to the data of the state committee of religion, there exist two unregistered communities of satanists in Zaporozhye region, and seeds of such communities act in Cherkassy region, the Crimea and the city of Kyev.

In May 1997 the Crimean directorate of the Ministry of Interior started a criminal case by Article 212, Part 1 of the Penal Code of Ukraine connected with the fact of desecrating graves by satanists. In March 1998 the Cherkassy prosecutor arrested the teacher of physics of school No.9, who was the leader of the local sect of satanists. The criminal case was started according to Articles 120, 121 and 208 of the Penal Code of Ukraine.

'Uriadovy kuryer', No. 128, 1998

Clashes among different confessions

In 1994 a special department for the oversight of laws on interethnic and interconfessional relations was created in the framework of General Prosecutor's office of Ukraine.

Aleksandr Kukolevskiy, the head of the department, told newsmen that registered communities belong to 73 various religious confessions. 53% of the total number (10347) of religious communities belong to orthodox christianity: 72% of them belongs to the Ukrainian orthodox church (UOC), 18% -- to the same church of the Kyevan patriarchate (UOC-KP) and 10% -- to the Ukrainian apostolic orthodox church (UAOC).

The relations between these sisterly churches are characterized by permanent clashes and violent captures of church buildings. The champion here is UOC-KP. Another front lies between orthodox churches and greek catholic church (GCC). The latter church has 3151 communities and is the second after UOC church in Ukraine. Nowadays we have 450 'hot spots', mainly in the West Ukraine: 157 in Ivano-Frankivsk region, 126 in Lviv region and 81 in Ternopol.

The relations between GCC and Roman catholic church has a tendency to become more belligerent.

On the other hand, all the above-mentioned confessions join together against new religious cults, totalitarian sects and psychic cults. This is the third front.

Administration heads often behave like religious fanatics. So, in Ivano-Frankivsk region 410 church buildings were passed to GCC whereas to all orthodox confessions only 10 church buildings were given. In the town of Rogatin all the 5 church buildings were given to GCC, though this church counts only 200 members, whereas the number of orthodox christians are ten times more. The interference of political parties and some people's deputies makes the interconfessional clashes sharper. What concerns new religions and destructive sects, the regional prosecutor sent a memorandum to M. Zgurovskiy, the Minister of Education, appealing him to prohibit to offer the halls of educational establishments for religious meetings.

On the opinion of A. Kukolevskiy, the corresponding laws have become obsolete. He suggests to increase the minimal number of the members from 10 to 50 for registration a community. At the same time the law must contain criteria on the origin of the confession, its attitude to marriage, family, education, civil duties. For unknown and nontraditional communities a law must be adopted to re-registrate them every 3-5 years. The statement of the law that the same church building may be used for consecutive services by various confessions should be abolished, since, as the experience showed, this only sharpens conflicts.

'Nezavisimost', No.232-233, August 1998

MISCELLANEOUS

A piece of recollection

Georgiy Sushko, Zhaporozhye

Our life now is often bitter and strained, we often complain and have a tendency to visualize the life in the past pinker that it was. So it will be not superfluous to remind the past now and then.

Recently a man came to our 'Union for human rights protection' and said that he had read in the local newspaper something about our organization and would like to be a participant of our activities in the sphere of protection of rights of national minorities.

The man's name is Tadzhidin Saidov, born in 1956, a Lezghin by nationality, living in Zaporozhye since 1978, a constructing engineer who graduated in 1996 from Zaporozhye Engineering Academy. He added that he studied for five years in Zaporozhye Medical Institute and was fired because he was a mouthpiece of the Voice of America. We got interested and Saidov showed us the newspaper 'Medicinskiy rabotnik' ('Medical worker') of 12 December 1985. This newspaper was the organ of the rector's office, Party committee, Komsomol committee and trade union of Zaporozhye medical institute.

The article read that student T. Saidov had been a dissident during four years which fact the Party committee, rector's and dean's offices learned from multiple messages from teachers and students. These messages, letters and oral denouncements contained the demand to punish the amoral student and guard the students and all other Soviet people from the belligerent mouthpiece of anti-Soviet 'voices'. The Party committee, the article read, responded to the numerous demands of the toilers of medicine and took a decision to hold a general meeting of teachers and students in the assembly hall of the institute on 11 December 1985.

The meeting was opened in the overcrowded hall by A. Shulga, the secretary of the Party committee. He generalized the multiple signals on the shameful behavior of student Saidov and analyzed the stages of his steady downfall, starting from the first year of studies. From the first moment after entering the institute student Saidov filled the conversations with his classmates with indignant fantasies about the life in the West. The students shied from him but he continued the agitation.

Being at the second year of studies Saidov bought the radio set and demonstrated enviable memory in retelling the lies transmitted by enemies' radio stations.

In the beginning of the third year he announced that he was going to master English perfectly. It became clear that he also wanted to add to the misinformation, transmitted from the West in Russian, another portion, transmitted in English.

At the fourth year student Saidov went further: he left the students' hostel and rented a room for 30 roubles. His landlady confirmed that every night he listened to the Western radio stations, against which she rebelled in vain, as she said in the competent organs.

Even as a freshman, the Party organizer said, Saidov carried out active anti-Soviet propaganda: he called the brotherly aid of the Soviet people to the people of Afghanistan as aggression. He declared that there must be many parties in the USSR and that election in the Soviet Union was a fiction.

The students tried to fan off Saidov as a persistent fly, they tried to correct him, but the mouthpiece of enemies' voices did not want to give in.

After the profound speech of the Party organizer, the discussion followed.

Some speakers said that student Saidov's activities were dictated by his negative attitude to the Soviet way of life, to the political structure of the state, to our democracy, to our international duty. Such activities, other speakers pointed out, had to attract the attention of the psychiatric services to his maniacal ideas; they had to isolate him from the society for the corresponding treatment. Student Saidov, one of the speakers said, did not agitate only students. He also aired anti-Soviet ideas in the hostel of Zhaporozhye garment factory, where he worked part-time. A great number of teachers and students took the floor. They 'complemented the T. Saidov's portrait with new negative facts which he used to denigrate the Soviet reality'. They demanded to start a criminal case against student Saidov for his calumnies against the Soviet state.

That is a brief review of the article. T. Saidov added some picturesque details. A day before the meeting Saidov was called to the dean's office. There he had a talk with the Party organizer. The Party organizer said that Saidov might not work as a doctor, since he would have a lot of patients to agitate. Saidov asked if he would be able to work at the epidemic station, with harmful bacteria. The Party organizer was skeptical. He said that Saidov should work at an industrial plant where, under the positive influence of the workers, he would be able to prove his correction by honest labor. Then the KGB-man in charge of the Medical Institute warned Saidov that if he wanted to dodge the criminal responsibility, he had to acknowledge his political blunders in the end of the meeting and explain them by the influence of enemies' radio voices. The KGB-man warned that there would be a question asked from the audience: 'What is your attitude to the Western propaganda now?' You should answer: 'Like to opium.'

When recollecting such times, such articles and such meetings, one thinks about the modern life as the realm of freedom.

Toponymy

Yuri Podkolzin, Kerch

There lived good people and most of them did not live long in this world. Vysotskiy died when he was 42, Esenin -- when 26, Lesya Ukrainka -- when 29. Do many streets in the Crimea carry their unforgettable names? For example, in Kerch.

We shall walk from the plant named after revolutionary Voikov along the street named after Voikov and will come to a junction with Kirov street. We shall walk about six kilometers along that street to Lenin square with the monument of Lenin five times natural size and made by an unknown sculptor from concrete. During great celebrations the marble tribune near this monument is mounted by the former and current chiefs. One (or maybe more than one) stood here not long ago and now he is buried in the cemetery, the way to which lies along Lenin street. Another street fanning from the concrete Lenin leads to Sverdlov street that crosses the street named after another revolutionary, Jean-Paul Marat. There are seven new microdistricts Marat-1, Marat-2 and so on up to seven.

To come to the Marat districts one may move along Budennyi street or along the parallel Voroshylov street. They are great commanders. Due to their strategical and tactical genius 180, 000 soldiers were killed in September 1941 near Kerch. In December 1941 their genius and Stalin's genius combined resulted in the death of 50, 000 more. Now the population of Kerch, to compare, is about 160, 000.

But let us walk farther along Marat street. We shall come to Ordzhonikidze street, then we shall turn to Ulyanov street and finish our way in a suitable place -- psycho-neurological hospital.

Lenin will live!

N. Bezhina, Kharkov

Do you remember what passions were seething when Dzerzinski square in Kharkov was renamed to Freedom square and the subway station 'Komsomolskaya' was given the name of marshal Zhukov, when Sverdlov street became Poltavskiy shlyakh?

There appeared a hope that the process of renaming would be put under the professional control. A new regional toponymy commission was elected and a new Statute was adopted. According to this Statute, one name may not be given to different objects (streets, bystreets, enterprises, schools, etc.).

In Kharkov there are objects that were given new names almost after every coup d'etat. Now the name of an object may be changed only to the previous historical name.

PL comment. Once guests of Kharkov were somewhat surprised: the largest square was named after Dzerzinski and was decorated with the huge monument of Lenin. Now the same monument decorates the Freedom square. Is it not absurd?

In Kharkov quite recently the name of Lenin carried school No.1, Polytechnic Institute, a palace of culture, the city subway. Now there still exist Lenin avenue, Lenin street and Illich avenue (although there is no Lenin deadend, like there was Marx deadend in Tbilisi). It is too much, taking account that Lenin had never been in Kharkov, even in passing.

Between the Prut and the Dniester

V. P. Kyrmyzy, Odessa region

I shall tell several life stories about people who live on the land between the Prut and the Dniester. Before 1940 this country was called Bessarabia. In 1940 one part of Bessarabia was joined to the Moldova socialist republic, and another -- to Ukraine. Various peoples live on this land: Moldavians, Greeks, Ukrainians, Russians, Romanians, Albanians, Armenians and Gypsies. I was also born and bred on this land. The town of Bielgorod-Dnestrovskiy is one of most ancient towns of the world. Now it celebrates its 2, 500 anniversary. During its history it was renamed 26 times. This testifies of how many powers changed here.

I remember well the late 30s and early 40s when this town was called Alba. The powers changed, but simple folks remained. Each power recruited men to the corresponding army.

My schoolteacher Georgiy T. Draganov taught children in the village of Aleksandrovka (Belgrad district) for more than 60 years. He taught several generations. He had three sons and a daughter. His eldest son was incarcerated in a Romanian prison, but he escaped and was recruited to the Red Army. His middle son appeared in Turkey and was recruited to the Turkish army, while his youngest son in 1942 was recruited to the Romanian army. Such a situation was rather typical.

The political situation was very complicated and many people suffered for nothing. So G. T. Draganov, activist of the Soviet power N. K. Kilsse and my father P. E. Kyrmyzy, among many others, were sentenced to death in 1941 as political leaders, although none of them ever went in for politics. They saved themselves by miracle.

The war ended. The eldest son of G. T. Draganov returned from the front as a victor, now he has all the privileges of the WW2 veteran. Now he is a doctor of geography and a well-known professor. But his youngest brother fought at first against the Red Army, since Romania was a German ally. When in 1944 Romania passed to the anti-Hitler block, the youngest brother, naturally, fought against Germans. A short time before the end of the war, according to the agreement between the governments of the USSR and Romania, all the men born in Bessarabia were sent home, because the country needed men's working hands. Those soldiers who remained in Romania have now all veterans' privileges, regardless of the side on which they fought. But the youngest son of G. T. Draganov once had fought against the USSR, so he has no privileges. Bessarabia lies at the crossroads of Eastern Europe. I have seen people who live here but who fought for Romania, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Finland. In all these countries the law was adopted, according to which all the war veterans got the rank of 'participant of WW2' regardless of the side where they fought.

Unfortunately, neither in the USSR nor in modern Ukraine (nor in any CIS country) such a law was never adopted.

School textbooks will cost money

This year parents should pay for school textbooks for their children. It was said by Vadim Landsman, the head of the education directorate, at a briefing in Kharkov executive committee. Until now the textbooks were given free of charge, i.e. they were paid by the state. But, as practice shows, every deal, where the state must pay, will collapse.

Nowadays the state cannot conceal that it is unable to finance school. Everybody knows about parents' 'voluntary' help to the school which has been practiced for many years. By and by this help becomes legal.

Nothing was told about the concrete prices of textbooks. The question what should representatives of the poorest families do became unanswered.

T. T., our informant

Charity from the Dutch

G. Maryanovskiy, Kharkov

In the framework of the project of the cooperation between the Netherlands Helsinki committee and Kharkiv Group for human rights protection, a delegation from the Netherlands came to the Kuriazh colony for minor criminals. The delegation included Mrs Kleiter Albers, the president of the Netherland fund 'Sputnik' (whose main task is the provision of humanitarian aid to Ukraine), and Mr Hank Kreuy, a representative of the Ministry of Justice. They brought gifts to the colony: sport uniform, musical instruments and clothes. Another gift: the equipment for a computer class consisting of 35 computers, 17 printers, 4 modems, etc. passes the Ukrainian customs. During a brief official meeting, where the visitors and a representative of the Kharkiv Group made speeches, the warden of the colony informed the audience that all the amnestied inmates would be given new shirts. Since about 70 inmates are expected to be amnestied, the news was met with great enthusiasm. The 'colonists' asked plenty of questions on the life in the Netherlands and on the ways of punishing minor criminals there.

The delegation, the representative of the Kharkiv Group, and the administration of the colony discussed the plan of further cooperation. In particular, they discussed the plans of reconstruction of the hothouse. The fund 'Sputnik' promised to help.

Plans of Jews from Zaporozhye

G. Sushko, Zaporozhye

The majority of the Jewish community of Zaporozhye has taken the decision to emigrate. About 44% plan to emigrate to Israel; most of them are people older than 50. About 20% want to emigrate to the USA, Germany and other countries. Among those who still hesitate are people of about 40 having respectable professions that are grossly underpaid in modern Ukraine. They hesitate because they are not young, sometimes ill; they are unwilling to loose the accustomed circle of communication. Only 23% of Zaporozhye Jews decided to remain in the country. They regard Ukraine as their native land.

In later years the emigration of Zaporozhye Jews have become much more intensive: the Jewish population of the region is reducing fast.

RESTITUTION IN UKRAINE

Until now we have never written on restitution in Ukraine, because it is practically non-existent. The note below describes one of very few cases.

How "enemy of the people's" property was returned

Galina Zakharova, Chairwoman of local 'Memorial', Mariupol

About four years ago the Mariupol newspaper 'Priazovskiy rabochiy' published an article 'The house is returned'. It was a story about Fedor Malich. The Maliches before 1917 owned about 500 acres of arable land. Brothers Fedor and Khristofor had an enormous orchard. Old people still remember delicious sorts of plums selected by the brothers. The brothers married and Fedor bought a house in Metropolitskaya street, that very house which is described in this note.

After the revolution the campaign started of destroying 'kulaks' (well-to-do farmers) as the class. First Khristofor then Fedor were arrested. The verdict was: 'For disagreement with the policy of the Party and Government the brother Maliches sghould be exiled for three years to the Northern regions and be devoided of the right to live in their native places during five years.' (It was a typical verdict: 'Party' and 'Government' were written with the capital letter and the disagreement was certain though unproved.) The verdict was issued in winter of 1930 and the family was driven out of the house. They were driven barefooted with the words: 'They are hot as they are.'

In summer 1994 the Commission of the town council of restoring the rights of rehabilitated citizens, basing on the Ukrainian law of 17 April 1991 'On rehabilitation of victims of political repressions, ' issued the resolution: 'To return the house to Fedor Malich's heirs who also suffered from repressions.'

In six months after issuing this resolution Vladimir Voeykov, the director of the building firm 'Grazhdanzhylstroy', appealed to the regional, arbitrary courts and Mariupol prosecutor's office against the resolution of the commission on rehabilitation.

During 65 years 'Grazhdanzhylstroy' occupied the house free of charge and without repair. In later years it was let to a private firm for a store.

The case was considered in many instances. Only since May 1997 there have been five court sessions. On 25 March 1998 it was ruled out that the house must belong to 'Grazhdanzhylstroy'. That was the decision by Zhovtnevy district court, but in a month the region court collegium cancelled the previous decision.

I do not feel triumphant, although I certainly find the last decision just and fair. To restore justice is too difficult.