PRAVA LUDYNY

PRAVA LUDYNY

19 July, 1998

COMMUNIQUES FROM THE CRISIS FRONT

Market economy without money

Yu. Podkolzin, Kerch

As is well known, in a country of market economy one must earn money and pay for what one consumes. Ukraine is a country of market economy, but a rather peculiar one. May be half market and half racket, because the state demands pay for what one consumes, but does not pay for what one produces, to say nothing about pensioners, invalids and other social ballast, who produce complaints only. In the socialist times drawbacks were usually called 'birthmarks of capitalism', meaning that we inherited them from the notorious capitalism. Now we got plenty birthmarks of socialism, but the phenomenon of not paying is a new and deadly disease, like AIDS. Here are details that can be observed in my native Kerch:

- workers at some industrial enterprises in Kerch have not been paid for a year;

- workers of the medical system (doctors, nurses, etc.) have not been paid for eight month;

- school teachers have got no pay for half a year;

- pensioners and invalids have not got pensions for four months.

Let us try to imagine it more vividly, for instance, let us step into pensioners' shoes. In the end of May pensions were paid for

February, now, when it has become obvious that money cannot be expected, the plans are being developed how to pay pensions with local agricultural and industrial products. For the time being pensioners are free to live on the contents of garbage bins.

Although, unfairly, even the best finds from this source are not taken as the pay for communal utilities - the state admits only one-sided barter.

Oh, these communal utilities! Gas is supplied now from central tanks only to a few houses. Central heating ensured in winter 15 degrees Centigrade in warm winter months and 10 when colder. In fact, boiler-houses heat themselves. People forgot about such luxury as hot water.

Let us still narrow the field of vision. At the address 1

Vsesoyuznaya St, Apt.88 Larisa Mikhailovna Tishevskaya, a pensioner, an invalid of the first group, resides. She is a capricious woman, for she prefers cooked food. For this she needs an electric range, also electricity, hence money to pay for the latter. By and by the debt of 30 Gr. accumulated. Then an inspector came (inspectors like old pensioners, otherwise there is a risk to be beaten). The electricity has been switched off.

This is the end of the story and not a happy one.

Prices of the Russian press will grow

Our informant

The heading is an understatement: the prices grow not only of Russian and not only of press. According to the resolution of the Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers, since July 1 the custom tax for all kinds of polygraphic products (newspapers, magazines, post-cards, books, etc.) will grow by 30% and will become unaffordable for many citizens of Ukraine.

Miners demand money and nothing more

Our informant

In June miners continued to picket the building of the administration of the President. The trade union of miners informed mass media that miners do not put out any political demands, but still demand from government to fulfill their promises to give back the pay arrears. According to the data of the Ministry of Mining Industry (as a rule they do not coincide with those from the trade union) 27 mines out of almost 500 were on strike in June.

A slimming diet

A. Belkina, Kharkov

The minimal basket of goods for the poorest was introduced in our dieting motherland in 1991. 67.9% of the expenditures were planned for food, 20.7% - for other consumer goods, 9.2% - for services, 2.2% - for taxes. The founders of the concept described the initial food department of the minimal monthly basket as follows (in kg):

meat and dairy products - 5, milk - 12, butter - 0.55, curds - 0.78, cheese - 0.4, oil - 0.64, sugar - 3.2, potatoes - 7.5, cabbage fresh and sauer - 2, eggs - 19 (pieces), cucumbers and tomatoes 2.5, other roots - 1.19, fresh fruits and berries - 3.5, grapes 0.67, melons and water melons - 1.28, citrus fruits - 0.97, flour - 1.5, sour cream - 1, white bread - 10.

Nowadays, the price of the minimal food basket must cost 64.54 Gr. The recommended list of food products for a month is the following (in kg):

beef - 0.56, pork - 1.1, chicken - 0.95, sausage - 1.18, butter 0.34, oil - 0.49, milk - 10.14, sour cream - 1.1, curds - 0.45, cheese - 0.14, eggs - 25 (pieces), sugar - 1.64, flour - 1.53, white bread - 8.1, farina - 0.55, vermicelli - 0.55, potatoes 10, cabbages - 1.94, onions - 1.27, beetroots - 0.63, carrots - 0.63, apples 1.24.

This is theory. We propose the reader to carry out experiments on themselves.

Reduction of jobs financed from the state and local budgets

More that 111 thousand of people, who get their pay from the state or local budgets, will have been sacked by the 1st of January 1999. That was made public by the press service of the Cabinet of Ministers.

According to the resolution of the government, ministries and other central agencies, as well as the National Academy of Sciences must cut their personnel by 1.5% by October 1, 1998. Later, by January 1 further reduction must be carried by almost another 1.5%. The reduction must not touch the middle school (elementary and high school, according to American terms).

The Ministry of Finances is ordered to prepare by July 1, 1998, the plan of further similar reductions for 1999-2001. The press service of the Cabinet of Ministers remarked that these reductions shall not concern the Armed Forces and Security Services, whose staff is approved by the Supreme Rada.

ON THE BOTH SIDES OF PRISON BARS

How much for stopping being a suspicious foreigner?

R. Romanov, Sevastopol

On 22 April in the Sevastopol-Kyiv train I got acquainted with two students of one of the higher schools of Sevastopol. They appeared to be citizens of Lebanon, learning for the first year. As became known from further conversation, they went to Kyiv to visit their Lebanese friends and to do the city. Next day the train arrived in Kyiv, and we left the carriage together.

On the stairs of the railway station the Lebanese students were stopped by a militia sergeant. I asked why he did not stop me. The sergeant retorted that he had no pretensions to me, but they were foreigners, and foreigners often commit crimes. Further he informed me that foreign students must get a permission of their rector to leave the town where they learn. I showed my identification card of a journalist and referred to Articles 26 and 33 of the Constitution of Ukraine according to which foreign residents have the same rights to move within Ukraine as Ukrainian citizens, and he has referred to the order of his boss. He refused point blank to name his boss or himself. My Lebanese acquaintances were taken to the railway precinct - I was waiting at the door. In about 10 minutes the students were released. They were pardoned, militiamen explained, since it happened 'for the first time'. The students explained that for them it was a routine. 'They just want some money', they said. They regarded Ukraine as a police-ruled racist state.

On penitentiary system in Ukraine

A. Bukalov, Donetsk

First, I shall give some data on my native Donetsk. For the first three months of 1998 the number of convicts grew by 1200. Now penitentiary establishments of the region house 32500 convicts. It is 6500 more than the nominal capacity and 10000 more than 10 years ago. Especially bad the things are in preliminary prisons

(where suspects expect the trial). Here 6400 people are kept in the prison blocks whose nominal capacity is 3700. 156 of the dwellers of the preliminary prisons are kept longer than the law permits.

3200 have TB, more than 600 are AIDS-infected. According to the plan, 17500 must have paid work, in actual fact only 7900 have work. Only 10500 committed grave crimes. The prison administration considers that to the most of the others weaker kinds of punishment, not connected with imprisonmemt, can be applied, such as, for example, socially useful coerced works. But our legislators are busy with dividing their positions in the parliament, and our judges are timid to apply more liberal laws among already existing.

The situation with financing is even worse than on the free side of prison bars. The penitentiary system of Donetsk region owes 47 mln. Gr. for food and energy. On the other hand, the coal mining industry owes more than 6 mln. Gr. to the regional penitentiary system.

The above-cited data were made public at the meeting of the

Donetsk Region administration.

Law enforcers of Russia and Ukraine met in Kharkov

Our informant

More than 600 crimes were unclosed during joint raids of Russian and Ukrainian law enforcing agencies in five Ukrainian regions adjoining to Russia. This operation was carried out according to the agreement on co-operation of frontier regions of the two countries.

The results of the operation were summed up at the meeting in Kharkov. 234 criminals were arrested, half of them on the dodge from militia. 37 crimes committed by organized gangs were unclosed. The activity of 9 fictitious firms was suspended and their licenses were cancelled. 629 criminal cases were started. In particular, a criminal group was unclosed in Kharkov, which fraudulently obtained a large sum of budget money by faking documents.

Selling women may become a dangerous trade

Our informant

The international organization of migration and the fund 'Panna' ('Miss') held a seminar in Kharkov devoted to banning the massive sale of Ukrainian women to foreign brothels. By some data, about 50 thousand of Ukrainian women became prostitutes abroad. They had believed numerous advertisements that promise jobs of waitresses, nurses and the like. But having appeared abroad, they are forced to pay for their transfer, their passports are taken as a pledge, so they are left without documents and money, and forced to become sexual slaves. All in all in Ukraine the license for intermediary services for finding jobs abroad have 530 firms. Last year the licenses of 29 firms were cancelled and their activities are now investigated by the corresponding agencies of the Ministry of Interior.

Representatives of these agencies also took part in the seminar.

News from Russia

The Chamber on human rights at the presidential administration considers that the scale of human rights violations in agencies of the Ministry of Interior is a threat to national security

The members of the Chamber discussed the situation concerning the 'brutal abuses of human rights in the agencies of the Ministry of Interior'. On their opinion, the situation in this field is a sheer threat to the national security. Torture and cruel and degrading treatment of citizens became systematic and massive. As Valeriy Borshchev, the Chairman of the Chamber and an MP remarked, it is necessary to put together the efforts of state agencies and human rights protection organizations in preventing torture. 'Russia needs a transition from misuse of power to protection of the population, she needs the court that will be fast, gracious and equal to all', as Emperor Aleksandr II said.

The reasons for the tenacity of cruel methods are not only the drawbacks of the existing laws. Such methods are retained as a part of technology of work of law enforcing bodies, whose goal is to uncover a crime. Valeriy Abramkin from the Center of assistance to judicial reforms compared the system of the criminal investigation with a typical Soviet industrial enterprise, which blossoms making much of produce needed by no one, since it sends up the optimistic reports. According to Abramkin's data, in Russia the proportion of unclosed crimes is the greatest in the world, but if legal norms were obeyed during investigation, the most cases would never reach the court. From the point of view of the human rights protection activists the criteria of the assessment of law enforcing agencies must be changed. Their work must be assessed not by a number of unclosed cases, but by the preventive measures, the number of victims who got aid, recovery of damages, increasing the trust of the population to people in the uniform.

As Yakov Pister declared, the Head of the General procurator's office of Russia for the oversight of observance of law, the law enforcing system, as well as the society as a whole, are in crisis: there is a shortage of skilled workers in the system, those who are available often do not respect law. To illustrate, in 1997 the General procurator's office marked 27 thousand cases of violating laws by law enforcers, against 853 militiamen criminal cases were started for misuse of power, and 456 cases for bribe taking. According to the data provided by Yuriy Sinelnikov, the first deputy of the prosecutor of Moscow, 66 criminal cases were started in 1997 in the capital. It is obviously too few, since from Moscow preliminary prisons 1204 complaints on beating and degrading treatment were handed.

On summing up the debates, the Chamber ruled to create a working group for preparing the federal program to fight torture and to discuss at the meeting of law enforcers and human rights protectors the prospects of creating mechanisms of the public oversight over the agencies of the Ministry of Interior. Besides, the Chamber suggested to the Ministry to develop legal documents, including cards that must be handed to everyone detained, where the latter's rights will be described, as well as the introduction in precincts of the post of the advocate-on-duty. These measures could become an efficient measure for preventing many abuses. The advocate-on-duty could instruct the detained on their rights and be present at any interrogation. Only the evidence obtained when the advocate was present could be regarded as legal evidence.

Two documents and their effect

A. C., Donetsk

1. An extract from a medical card filled in by Zhukova, a physician of the Medical center of Chemical plant 'Azot'.

(A name, age 19, place of study, address) was treated as a stationary patient in the hospital of the Medical center of Chemical plant 'Azot' from 18 April to 29 April 1997.

Diagnosis: closed trauma of cerebral brain, concussion of the brain; injury of the front wall of the abdomen; injury of the left shoulder, of the left ear, of the both thighs. Was taken to hospital with complaints on guiddiness, headache, temporary unconsciousness, general weakness. By the words of the patient he was beaten up by officers of the road police, fainted twice, does not remember for how long. By the evening was sick and vomiting.

Subcutaneous haemotomae on the front of abdomen, on the left of ribcase, on both thighs...

2. An assignment

To head of the department of forensic medicine dr. Nikitenko A. I.

19 July 1997, the town of Severodonetsk.

From Gorbatenko O. V., the deputy prosecutor of the town of Severodonetsk.

Herewith I direct to you citizen Z., born in 1974, working at..., residing at..., for a medical examination.

Circumstances of the case: was beaten up by people unknown in the precinct of Severodonetsk road police.

I ask you to answer the following questions: Are there any injuries? If there are, then how long ago are they inflicts, by what tools are they inflicted, where located and how grave.

Signature of the Deputy prosecutor.

(The expertise showed grave injuries of kidneys, the victim stayed in a hospital for ten days).

Effect: none whatsoever. Bulls of the road police are as untouchable as sacred cows.

Independent expertises

After Ukraine entered the Council of Europe, the question of accelerating the judicial reform became more urgent, as well as transforming the Ukrainian legal system in the direction of European standards in which the competition of prosecution and defence is accompanied by the competition of experts on both sides.

Up to now advocates had no opportunity to use the services of experts, i.e. professionals in some branch of science or technology or art or forensic medicine or psychiatry.

In Dnepropetrovsk the firm ALTEVIZ (alternative expertises) has recently started its activities. This is the first in Ukraine firm of such a type.

The range of the services of the firm are as follows:

- consultations given to advocates, private investigators, private citizens, workers of law enforcing agencies and courts in all branches of forensic medicine and forensic psychiatry;

- carrying out independent medical and psychiatric expertises.

The firm provides consultations and expertises in the following questions:

1. Forensic medical expertise of live subjects (with or without the official assignment from militia or court) in order to determine:

- the degree of gravity of body injuries;

- the degree of losing the ability to work;

- the origin of scars confirming participation of the client in WW2 and other military conflicts;

- health, simulation of diseases and self-mutilation;

- doubtful sex states (definition of the true sex);

- sex crimes;

- infection with a VD;

- doubtful fatherhood or motherhood or exchange of babies

(by using the method of genome dactiloscopy, which is 100% reliable).

2. Forensic psychiatric expertises:

- establishing a temporary insanity at the moment of committing a crime;

- finding a necessity of appointing a stationary expertise;

- expertise in the investigator's office;

- expertise during the trial;

- expertise at subject's absence or a post mortem psychiatric expertise; various aspects of forensic psychiatry in a civil process, such as:

= establishing of legal incapability;

= considering evidence on regarding marriage as void;

= claims of dissolution of the marriage;

= claims on breeding children;

= establishing of the psychic state of a witness.

3. Forensic medical expertises in cases of damage to health and death caused by different kinds of external factors, such as:

- injuries with blunt objects;

- traumas obtained at home, in a street, in a transport accident;

- sportive traumas;

- traumas caused by falling;

- traumas caused by stabbings and cuts;

- deaths caused by asphiction;

- traumas caused by firearms and explosions;

- traumas caused by extreme temperatures;

- traumas caused by electric shock (lightning included);

- traumas caused by irradiation;

- traumas caused by excessive pressure (barotraumas);

- traumas caused by poisoning;

- traumas caused by other factors.

4. Forensic medical investigation of dead bodies, such as:

- examination of a dead body in the place where it was found;

- establishing the cause of a violent death;

- determining and assessing injuries by the autopsy of a corpse;

- determining the causal relations of injuries and death;

- measuring the alcohol content in blood;

- determining the possibility of certain actions on the side of deadly wounded;

- determining the capability for self-inflicted wounds;

- determining the time of death;

- expertise of dissected and burned corpses;

- criminal abortions, investigations of killed new-born babies;

- investigation and identification of corpses.

5. Auxiliary (laboratory) methods of investigation of exhibits, such as:

- forensic-biological expertises;

- forensic-chemical expertises;

- forensic-medical expertises;

- forensic-spectrographic expertises;

- forensic-cytological expertises.

6. Forensic-medical expertises after materials of criminal investigations and cases, when the official medical expertises appeared inadequate.

7. Preparation of dead bodies for the funeral (services at home: washing, dressing, make up, balsaming of dead bodies).

The services offered by ALTEVIZ are rendered by high-skilled professionals with a rich practical experience and scientific degrees.

* * *

The Center of independent expertises (ALTEVIZ): Address: 55 Pr. Pushkina, Apt.201, Dnepropetrovsk, 320006, Ukraine Phone/Fax: (0562) 422 654 E-mail: alternativa@altevise.dnepr.ua Branches: 1) ALTEVIZ-APEX, 31 Universitetskaya ul., Kharkov, 310003, Ukraine

Phone: (0572) 126 308

Fax: (0572) 123 637 2) ALTEVIZ-NORD, 13 '20 Let Pobedy' ul.(in tanathological regional Bureau in Sumy), Sumy, 244003, Ukraine

Phone: (0542) 223 104

A union to help victims of crimes

O. Peregon, Kharkov

On 28 May the Association of parents of the murdered was organized. It united more than 500 of the parents of the murdered in Kharkov.

The goal of the Association is to help the parents of the murdered and to maintain the uncovered cases. The Association seems to be the only organization of this kind in the world. It is growing and now it has branches in four more regions of Ukraine: Zaporozhye,

Chernigov, Sumy and Donetsk. I interviewed Aleksey Kashuba, the chairman of the Association since the day of its foundation.

-Has the character of your activity changed with the time?

- We continue to deliver psychological and social help to the relatives of the murdered and consult them, if needed. During two years we did much in these directions. Besides, we do not allow to close the unsolved cases. Several cases of this kind have now got to courts at last. The investigation of several more cases has been resumed.

Another direction of our activities is legislative. We demand to introduce in our country the status 'a victim of banditism' and provide to such victims social and medical aid. We demand that the material damage caused by banditry was recompensed not from the criminal, but from the state and at once. And the compensation must be financed by the law enforcing agencies.

During two years we have not managed to have the law adopted. But we continue to press.

We are widening our activity not only in a geographic way, but widening the spectrum of crimes we deal with. We already cooperate with victims of rape and political repressions. People turn to us with many similar problems. We try to help or at least to give a consultation.

-What is the attitude of law enforcing agencies to your activities?

-The attitude is different. For some we are like a thorn in the flesh, because we fight for the fair punishment of murderers, against corruption and hush-hushing crimes. But those officers, who have no finger in the pie of such activities, sympathize with us and support us.

Some data on the intensity of the criminal situation. According to the statistics, one murder is committed in a typical

Ukrainian region on an average day. Kharkov is a big city, the number of murders per year is 400-600. More than 300 are unclosed yet. There is a lot of work to detect them, and members of the

Association are ready to assist.

ARMY

Military Departments in Higher Schools: to be or not to be?

Our informant

Until now within higher schools there were military departments that trained students to become officers. After the graduation these officers had to serve one year.

Now the Supreme Rada prepares to consider the draft of the new law which stipulates cancelling military departments in higher schools and hence the right of students for the postponement of the conscription.

The poll carried out in Kharkov university showed that the majority of teachers and students are against the draft. The university prepared the appeal to the Supreme Rada. It reads that the adoption of the law will result in a further demolishing of higher schools, further increase of the drain-brain and, in the final count, will lower the efficiency of the army.

Able-bodied invalids

I. Sukhorukova, Kharkov

It is enough just to look around to see that our society is very far from being democratic. As Bulgakov said the crisis is first of all 'havoc in the mind', adding that 'if I piss beside the lavatory pan, then havoc will reign in my lavatory'. The recent election confirmed the viewpoint of Bulgakov , at least the general part of it. If a large proportion of the population votes for communists, then nothing will be improved soon in this society. The 'havoc in the mind' reigns everywhere. We, human rights protection activists, come across daily with situations when authorities just are not willing to fulfill their duty, and citizens are unable to protect their rights against their petty adversaries, such as a doctor from a motor ambulance or a school teacher.

It can be observed that the structures inherited from the past do their duty worst of all. They must be reformed or abolished, but the society is not prepared. We want to dwell in this article on a structure that will not reform on its own initiative, so the public must carefully discuss all whats and whens. We mean the military medical service.

More than once we wrote on facts of abusing of servicemen's human rights. The drawbacks of the service partly repeat those of the common medical service (its old bodies are ruined much faster than the new ones appear), but it has plenty of its own peculiarities.

The common trouble of civil and military doctors and administrators is the lack of financing from the state budget, which results in the shortage of medical drugs, necessary equipment and the like.

This is partly the cause of superficial diagnoses, of incorrect and insufficient treatment. Now military hospitals must pay to hospitals for civilians for consultations. This, by the way, violates Article 49 of the Constitution of Ukraine, but havoc reigns both in our heads and in our legislation. Together this mixture is very dangerous to handle.

Having decided to analyze the military medical service, we are not going to assert that it is inferior to the common one in all respects. Prominent doctors work in the military medicine. But this fact alone is insufficient for the efficient treatment of servicemen. First of all, a serviceman cannot insist on his right to be treated, compared to a civilian. Although in the civil medicine we often come across the facts when doctors dodge and do not take patients seriously, the scale of the similar phenomena in the military hospitals is much larger. (Here we mean the treatment of young people, since the treatment of pensioners in civil hospitals is a special topic.)

This attitude to patients is costly. The upkeep of a patient on a military hospital bed is more expensive than in the one for civilians, so the quality of the treatment is important in terms of money as well. Young men, having come to the army and having experienced difficulties of the military service, fall ill frequently. On the one hand, this results from the bad work of the recruit-examining commissions which consider able-bodied youths of very poor health. All the attempts of the Ministry of Defence (MD) to improve the situation in the districts have, until now, appeared fruitless. The young men are recruited either from villages, or from town families of lower classes. In such families they, as a rule, have no money for a fundamental medical examination of youths. If the recruit's health is weak, he must come to the local recruiting commission with a stack of diagnoses and medical certificates on diseases available. Youths from poor families have no such documents. As a result, a recruit can be conscripted with a bouquet of diseases that makes his service impossible. Such people are, in some cases, demobbed as invalids.

It would seem reasonable that a gravely sick soldier must be demobbed, since the army is not interested to pay for numerous transportation of a serviceman to a hospital and back, for sickness leaves, medicinal drugs, consultations and so on. To say nothing about the moral and physical damage on the patient who lives in the suspended state. However, we know about many cases when servicemen were not demobbed even if they were in their units one week every two months.

For example private Chuprina was conscripted in 1994, contrary to Order No. 325, with the diagnosis 'chronic purulent cystoid synusitis'. In the first month of his service the disease became more acute, he caught glomerulonephritis and landed in a hospital.

Further, for a week in the unit he spent about two months in hospitals, then on the leave for reconvalecence. His mother turned to the Union of soldiers' mothers. After our request the soldier was put to Kharkov region military hospital (KRMH), stayed there for three weeks and was released with the innocent diagnosis

'gastritis, rhinitis'. However the soldier continued to be ill, and the ratio between his service days and sick days stayed on the previous level. As a result, after a year of such sufferings he was demobbed. Nobody counted the expenditures of taxpayers' money.

We shall render two more examples (out of very many).

Private Ustiugov was taken to KRMH with chronic commisure disease caused by a previous operation of removing appendicitis with peritonitis, which had been made in Lugansk, in a hospital for civilians. One may ask why he was taken to KRMH so late, but

- alas! - servicemen are rarely taken to hospitals in the proper time, of which we are going to speak later. But rather later than sooner, the private was operated, after which his timetable of active service looked exactly like in Chuprina's case. Nonetheless he was not demobbed by KRMH. We have managed to put him to Odessa region military hospital and are waiting now for the decision of the medical commission.

Private Savinsky, after a heavy trauma of the cerebral brain, suffers from weak memory and inability to concentrate. He, for example, cannot write an application without someone's assistance, cannot memorize a line from a verse and the like. He suffers from guiddiness, heartbeat, headache, heartache. Nonetheless he was considered able-bodied by KRMH and continues his service in an elite rocket unit.

Most servicemen about whom we learned from complaints of their mothers, who believed that further service endangers their children's lives, were, after our appeals to MD, directed for an additional medical examination and were demobbed after that. But transfers between hospitals cost money, as well as treatment, consultations and so on. Every time we come to KRMH we feel that we are not welcome. Still we try to convince them that a childishly simple conclusion is true: if a servicemen serves one week in two months, then to keep him in the army is ruinous for the country.

We, from the Union of soldiers' mothers, had numerous talks, if not to say conflicts, with the administration of KRMH. Colonel

Nikiforov, its former Chief of medical service, was adamant in keeping within the army every invalid. When we reminded him about servicemen who were considered able-bodied in Kharkov and later were demobbed, according to the diagnosis given in Odessa, he called it blackmail. The present Chief of medical service is more humane. There are several doctors who are high-skilled and who would have been ready to save poor invalid boys from the army, if the rules had changed. But the rules are cruel and stupid, and they do not change. The rules say that if a patient does not suffer from a deadly disease (in this case the hospital may rule to demob the patient), but, say, has a bouquet of chronic illnesses that keep him most time in a hospital, then, to start the demobilization routine, the hospital must receive the document from the commander of the unit with the list of illnesses of the soldier. It is sheer idiocy, because the commander has no qualification to compile such a document and, besides, he is too busy and unwilling to do it. There are exceptions among commanders, but they are few.

To sum up, there are three causes of inefficiency of the military medical service.

The first is, as always, the personnel factor. Good people working in a bad system have to do bad things, but they do not rejoice and try to minimize inhumane acts, unlike others, to whom the system gives a cart blanche for inactivity.

Secondly, the system is bad. It contains a contradiction. The state , or at least the top brass, needs more chair a canon in the army, whereas the military medical service, subordinate to the top brass, must decrease the number of servicemen.

Thirdly, the laws, which must oversee and control the situation, are obviously inadequate. They do not protect the rights of either doctors or patients (both in the army or at large). Legal acts of the lower level contradict to the existing laws. For example, the order of Kharkov Regional and City health committees prohibits to grant medical aid to non-urgent patients-recruits, which contradicts to Article 49 of the Constitution of Ukraine and

Article 6 of the Law on health protection, as well as Article 113 of the Penal Code that treats as a crime nonproviding medical aid by medical staff.

We believe that the existing situation can be improved by the following steps (needing public and professional discussion).

First, to include the military medical service into the framework of the Ministry of Health without lowering previous salaries.

Secondly, to create as soon as possible, the professional army. It will make the army healthier both in the medical and figurative sense.

Thirdly, as soon as possible, to begin the juridical reform in medicine, especially concerning medical insurance of citizens.

But next to nothing is being done. The havoc in our minds and in our country is going on.

A case study

T. Efimenko, the regional physician of juvenile patients, Kharkov

Here we shall make an attempt of a very rude analysis of the causes of demobilization of soldiers on reasons of health within first six months of their service.

Within the first six months of 1997 in Kharkov 16 soldiers were demobbed: 3 from the spring recruiting campaign and 13 from the autumn one. 4 out of these 16 were approved of by the commission of the city of Kharkov and 12 by rural districtal commissions.

Since the contribution of the city is numerically larger, this means that the districtal commissions work worse. Especially so in

Blizniuki (3 out of 16).

Classified by the type of diseases, the 16 invalids fall into 6 psychic cases, 6 surgical cases, 3 neurological and 1 urological.

The first group of diseases was difficult to diagnose, except one case, where the available documents were insufficiently studied.

In the surgical group 2 cases were difficult to diagnose and 4 cases were the consequence of insufficient study of the documents and incorrect application of the routine methods of the examination. The other three errors were caused by the concealment of symptoms on the side of the recruits.

The quoted results were discussed by members of recruit-examination medical commissions. It was pointed out that the members of the commissions must:

- examine youths in schools and juvenile departments in order to find diseases in early stages;

- establish closer contacts with parents;

- attentively study the available medical documentation;

- pedantically observe the conventional examination routines.

EDUCATION

The Labor conflict in Kharkov University

V. Kalchenko, Kharkov

Teachers of the preparatory faculty (intended for foreign students) have a conflict with Rector V. Svich. 29 claims have been handed to districtal courts of Kharkov. The claimants are sure that the acts of Rector were anticonstitutional.

The conflict began in December 1992 when the University administration asked (or, some say, demanded) that the teachers of the preparatory faculty agreed to be paid from the special fund formed by the university extra-budget income. The teachers agreed: some believed the oral promises that the salary would be at least not smaller, some were afraid to lose their jobs.

It appeared that they had to renew their contracts each year. But for some time the salaries and labor conditions stayed the same, and everybody was quiet.

Meanwhile he number of foreign students was becoming smaller and smaller. In 1995 the salaries became irregular and varying in size. It happened in all faculties, and teachers tried to be patient. Soon the number of teachers became equal with that of students, and the administration carried out a reduction of teachers staff. In August 1995 teachers, having returned from their vacations, found out that more than a hundred of them were sacked, since their contracts expired. The trade union found that Rector's order was illegal and protested. In two months the sacked teachers were restored to their jobs and got compensated for their forced truancy.

The 'rebels' continued their work, but nobody envied them. In 1996/97 academic year each earned 15 Gr. per month; later, under the pressure of the trade union, their salary soared to 70 Gr. (this is a salary of a clerk in the staff department). According to the law, disemployed workers get allowances depending on their monthly pay. 'How shall I sack them with a 15 Gr. salary', remarked V. Shalaev, the director of the university center for preparing foreign students. It became clear that further reduction was coming. A new order followed on 3 October 1997. According to it, one-year contracts were concluded with the teachers of the preparatory faculty. Their salary had to be 10% of the norm, due to the small number of lectures, though the administration employed 20 new teachers to the faculty in September 1997. The veterans of the faculty protested. Then they were fired according to Article 36-1, Section 6 of the Labor Code, as disagreed with new labor conditions.

The disemployed protest. They regard the actions of the university administration as a violation of the Constitution of Ukraine: 'Our right for labor, for pay, for life is abused', they say.

Among the sacked, there are rather prominent professionals: N. Kuprienko is a pioneer in musical phonetics, a gifted teacher whose methods are used in many higher schools of the country, V. Taranenko, the former head of the medical department of the faculty, V. Timofeeva, a Candidate of science, the author of several textbooks known outside the university, Z. Bour-Moskalenko, a chemist, candidate of science, a teacher with 30 years of experience, and many others. And it is doubtful who suffered more: the sacked teachers or their alma mater that lost high professionals by the Rector's whim.

%Teachers stopped the strike

Our informant

Prime-minister Pustovoitenko promised to pay 'in several days' the entire debts of 1998 to teachers and stipends to graduates of higher schools.

According to the prime minister, the government of Ukraine attempts 'as never before to create favorable conditions' for school education. He also objected to the reduction of the number of students and added that the state intends 'to do all to provide jobs to graduates so that they could work and thus develop the state'. 'Owing to these promises teachers started all examination at the proper time', said Nikolay Melnik, the deputy head of the School Department of the Ministry of Education. He added that teachers of seven Crimean schools, who were the last to continue the strike, resumed their work on May 28.

According to the Ministry of Education, pay arrears to teachers decreased by 22.5 mln. Gr. during one week (from 22 to 29 May) only. Now the total debt equals 361.2 mln. Gr.

HEALTH

AIDS in mining towns

Our informant

In the town of Stakhanov 12 AIDS-infected have been registered, 40 AIDS-infected in Sverdlovsk, 150 in Rubezhnoe. All these are mining towns in Lugansk region. The age interval of the infected is from 14 to 38 years.

'Under our conditions an AIDS-infected patient will not live longer than five years', said Nadezhda Sinenko, the main epidemologist of Stakhanov. Officially, no one died in this town from AIDS, but doctors, during an autopsy, cannot determine whether the death was caused by AIDS, since they have not the needed expensive equipment. The same equipment is applied to find the infection. So the number 12 in Stakhanov and all other numbers must be taken as unreliable.

MASS MEDIA

Pressmen under press

The Ukrainian Center of economic and political studies carried out a poll among leading journalists of Kyiv and regional centers, trying to evaluate the situation in Ukraine concerning the freedom of speech. The results are not inspiring. The conditions under which independent mass media survive are very hard, the journalists say.

The question whether the political censorship exists in Ukraine was answered positively by 70% of the pollees: 31% come across the censorship often enough, 39.2% come across it infrequently and the rest never experienced censorship.

The pollees said that a newspaper can criticize the Supreme Rada without grave consequences: to speak against the government is riskier, against the President is dangerous and against mafia groups is deadly. In quantitive measures this looks as follows. There will be no negative consequences if we write an article against:

the Supreme Rada - 86% of the pollees; the Government - 62%; the President - 43%; the mafiosi groups - 18%.

As to concrete methods of inflicting pressure on mass media the journalists listed the following:

- psychological pressure on journalists - 48%;

- economic sanction against the guilty mass medium -26%;

- savage bodily punishment - 4%.

In order to guarantee the freedom of speech the pollees consider necessary:

- to ensure the financial independence of mass media - 84.3%;

- to change the attitude of the authorities to mass media 39.2%;

- to liberalize the appropriate legislation - 13.7%.

INTERETHNIC RELATIONS

Here we present a somewhat abbreviated speech of Mustapha Jemilev, the Chairman of the Medjlis of the Crimean Tatars delivered at the Memorial meeting devoted to the 54-th anniversary of the exile of Tatar People from the Crimea

Each people on the earth has the most important and significant day. For many peoples it is the day when they got independence or an autonomous state. But the tragic fate of our people is such that the most important day in our history is May 18. This is so, because after the liquidation of our state in 1783 and after capturing our lands, it was on this day when the greatest and cruelest crime was committed against our people.

54 years have passed after this black date. Then, when our men were fighting in the ranks of the Soviet Army, the communist regime exiled their parents, wives and children to the Siberia and Middle Asia, by loading them into carriages for animals and sending them upon a long way to die in the trains.

Certainly, in the Crimea, like in other lands wars were raging during centuries, and much blood was spilt. But the old Crimea never witnessed such a murderous deed as committed against Crimean Tatars on 18 May 1944. Communists wanted to wipe our people out from the Crimean land and transform the land into Russian. As a result, during the deportation we lost half of our people. The consequences of this crime will be felt by the present and many next generations. That is why we must mark this day every year.

This day is not just a day of commemoration of those who perished in the exile, but also the day when we demonstrate the will of our people and show who is the real owner of this fruitful land.

During decades our people has been fighting for the return to our motherland, for the defence of our dignity. The struggle of our people was difficult, hundreds of us wasted our better years in prisons and colonies of the stern regime. Many people were fighting for the return, but they are buried far from their native land.

As a result, thanks to our unity and solidarity, thanks to the God almighty, we stepped on the land of our forefathers. Though not so fast, as it would be desirable, step by step, we learned to express our national rights. We had many clashes. Sometimes we were on the edge of bloodshed. But, thanks to Allah, we did not overstep this fatal line. But if in the future we want to live on our land as an autonomous people, if we want to become real owners of this fruitful land, we must be prepared to any development of events. Certainly, we, Medjlis of the Tatar people, wish no war on the Crimean land, but if the question concerns the very existence of the people of Crimean Tatars, our motherland, our honor and dignity, we certainly must be prepared to any turn of the events.

Up to now we have achieved great successes, but in the future we shall come across more tests. About half of our people have not returned to the motherland, and they will be unable to do it without our aid. They need our support, and our duty is to help them. The people of Tatars in the Crimea has achieved a quarter of a million, that is now we make more than 10% of the Crimean population. But in all state structures we are presented 3 to 4 times less than the fair proportion. We are in an unjust position, other peoples treat us as a second rate people, the attitude to us is sometimes chauvinistic.

The process of privatization is going on, and the property of our forefathers is grabbed by various mafiosi gangs. If the process continues, we, on our own land, will become not masters, but laborers of uninvited strangers. Not a single Tatar can be observed in the administration of some firm, kolkhoz or sovkhoz. The level of unemployment of Crimean Tatars is 3 to 4 times higher than among other nationalities inhabiting the Crimea.

If any unrest occurs, the guilty are always Tatars, since there are no representative of our people either in prosecutor's offices or in militia. How long shall we stand such unjustice and lawlessness?

If some people has no representatives in the Parliament, this people has to fight for their rights in streets. The authorities tried to intimidate us, but, thank Allah, our people is not timid. In response to the actions of the authorities we went to the squares and streets more solid than ever.

In the Crimean Parliament there is not a single representative of our people. The speaker of this parliament is a leader of communists, those very communists who carry on demonstrations the portraits of Stalin. Their goal is to restore the USSR or at least the Union of the three Slavonic republics. Shall we co-operate? Certainly not!

Our main problem - to make the Parliament of Ukraine guarantee us a quota in the Crimean parliament numbering 20-25 deputies and to have new elections. To achieve this goal our national movement must be maximally strong and solid.

Crimean tartars remember (Chronology of the genocide of Crimean Tatars)

1778 - the Crimea was conquered by Russia. The state of Crimean Tatars - the Crimean Khanate - was destroyed. The Russian Empress Catherine II declared: 'We want the Crimea without Tatars'. 30 thousand Crimean Tatars were exiled.

1780 - 300 thousand of Crimean Tatars were exiled.

1811 - 320 thousand of Crimean Tatars were exiled.

1812 - 100 thousand of Crimean Tatars were exiled.

1854 - 200 thousand of Crimean Tatars were exiled.

23 February 1918 - communists shot the first head of the Crimean

People's Republic Numan Cheleby Jikhan in Sevastopol, his dead body was thrown to the Black Sea.

21-24 February 1918 - communists organized the 'Sevastopol baths'.

On the decks of the ships of the Black Sea navy 'Truvor' and

'Romania' peaceful citizens were tortured, whose only guilt was that they were Tatars.

1917-1918 - it seems for the first time in history people were burned in steam-engine fire-boxes.

1920 - the communist terror in the Crimea, headed by Bela Kun harvested 60 thousand lives of Crimean Tatars.

1921-1922 - An artificial famine was organized which carried away more than 60 thousand of tatar lives. Besides 3.5 thousand of tatar intelligencia and clergy, 10 thousand of the most educated youths and 36 thousand of unwilling to enter kolkhozes were shot.

1944 - all the Tatar people was exiled from the Crimea. About half of the people died in the course of transportation and on the places of exile.

1989 - a massive process of returning to the motherland began.

Having not received the permission of the authorities, Tatars occupied non-used lands for building houses. This stage of our struggle will later be called 'self-return'.

30 September 1990 - local chauvinists carried out a pogrom of the

Tatar tent camp near the village of Krasnokamenka.

1 October 1990 -Militiamen beat participants of a picket before the building of the town executive committee.

15 October - a pogrom of the tent camp in Koreiz.

12 February 1991 - the Supreme Rada of Ukraine, in spite of the protests of national-democratic deputies and all Tatar people, confirmed the results of the referendum on the status of the

Crimea and adopted the law on the formation of the Crimean

Autonomous Republic.

2 August 1991 - another pogrom by OMON troops and organized population in the village of Molodezhnoe. Inhabitants of 22 neighboring villager took part in the pogrom. About 100 huts and houses were destroyed.

1 October 1992 - the Crimean authorities made a pogrom of the camp of Tartar camp in the village of Krasnyi Ray. The Tatars demanded plots of land. 26 ringleaders were cruelly beaten and carried away, nobody knew where. The followed actions of protest forced the authorities to release the detained on 6 of October.

1995 - The Ministry of Finances of Ukraine suspended financing the program of returning and rooting of Tatars.

23-27 June 1995 - clashes in Feodosia, Sudak and Djankoy with mafiosi gangs; 4 Tatars were killed, 7 wounded.

April 1996 - The Crimean Parliament rejected the Law 'On restoring rights of the Crimean Tatar People'.

18 May 1998 - more than 50% of the Crimean Tatar people still live in exile.

Ukraine does not recognize the Medjlis of the Crimean Tatar people, not a single legal act is adopted concerning rights of the

Crimean Tatar people. The people is awaiting justice. How long to wait?

The material has been prepared by Aydin, the Kara-Haidor center of public initiatives.

Another act of vandalism

D. Groisman, Drogobych

On the eve of the Victory Day unknown vandals in the village of Pykiv of Kalynivskyi district of Vinnitsa region destroyed and polluted a communal grave of jews killed in the World War II. The grave was dug up, the arc over the road was demolished, five- and six-ray stars were torn away. Similar acts of vandalism are becoming more and more frequent in Vinnitsa region.

LAWS AND LEGISLATION

C. Boychenko, Odessa, Colony “€Ќ-14

To where a convict, devoid of rights, can turn for help in restoring justice? Only to a newspaper, because nobody trusts the authorities.

In 1996 newspapers wrote on condemnation a mother of three children for ten years of imprisonment. She was condemned according to Article 86-1 of the Penal Code (theft of state or collective property in especially large quantity). This is a grave article: it stipulates imprisonment from 10 to 15 years.

This is an interesting question: how many people were condemned according to this article in 1995-1996 compared to other years. The answer is puzzling: the number in question soared many times. Prosecutor's office, investigation and law enforcing officers provided the fantastic percentage of unclosed crimes. Some citizens received medals, stars on their shoulder strips, etc., and others went to the wrong side of prison bars. What can be the reason of this burst?

The first reason was the law on the minimal wages, adopted in 1993 or 1994. The money in the country were devaluated at a terrifying rate, and the minimal pay per month was set at 60, 000 coupons. In 1995-1996 one could by for the minimal pay a pack of cigarettes with filters. Article 86-1 was modified, and the theft in especially large quantity was evaluated not in money directly, but in minimal pays. According to the law, the theft became especially large when its cost exceeded 250 minimal pays, i.e. about 15 mln. of coupons, i.e. about $90 by the exchange rate in March 1996. If the theft of the state property cost less, it was punished by Article 81 which stipulated the lower limit of imprisonment equal to 7 years.

On March 1, 1996, Article 86-1 was agreed with fast devaluation, and the lower limit for the theft to be especially large was set at 500 mln. coupons. Immediately a great number of convicts appeared who stole more than 15 mln. and less than 500 mln. This category of convicts hoped that their article would be changed and their terms would be diminished. This has not happened and, it seems, would not happen.

All the materials included to this publication without indicating the author are taken from UNIAN Agency, to which the editors of 'Prava Ludyny' are greatly grateful.

Internet in Ukraine: the Status and Law Regulation

Evgeniy Zakharov

1. The state of Internet

The Internet has begun to develop in Ukraine since 1991 exceptionally owing to efforts of private businessmen. Now in Ukraine there are appr. 350 Web-servers and 400 virtual Web-servers, more than 30, 000 domains, more than 100, 000 active users, 103 Internet Service Providers. 30% of all users live in Kyiv (capital of Ukraine), another third - in 5 biggest cities (Dnepropetrovsk - 12%, Kharkiv - 10.5%, Donetsk - 8%, Odessa - 4%, Lviv - 3%). Thus, each hundredth inhabitant of Kiev and Dnepropetrovsk has access to Internet, on the average for whole Ukraine - each five hundreadth inhabitants. One year volume of informative market is appr. $40, 000, 000.

Informative resources in Ukrainian part of Internet is not high as well as the Russian language part on the whole. Monitoring of informative resources is practically absent. Only about 40 newspapers have electronic versions on the Web-servers.

At present the development of Internet is braked by the monopoly of state company 'Ukrtelekom', possessing more than half external communication channels and practically all telephone channels. 'Ukrtelecom' channels rental cost is 6 to 8 times higher than, for example, in Czekia or the USA. In general, telecommunication infrastructure is weakly developed. The great part of providers use channels before 28.8 Kbit/sec and only 16 providers use channels with transmitting capacity more than 64 Kbit/sec. Only 11 providers have direct external line to abroad.

Development of Unternet is also braked by too high payment for services. Great number of providers take from $10 to $20 per month for services and from $1.5 to $4 per hour.

2. The Ukrainian state and Internet. Law regulating Internet

Special law regulating Internet is absent. There are the basic legislation acts in the sphere of information concerning Internet such as: the Ukrainian Constitution adopted on June 28, 1996, the law 'On information' adopted in 1992, the law 'On scientific technical information', adopted in 1993, the law 'On protection of information in the automatic systems', adopted in 1994, the law 'On TV and broadcasting' adopted in 1994, the law 'On informative agencies' adopted in 1995, the law 'On National Archives Foundation and Archives Bodies' adopted in 1993, the law 'On state secrets' adopted in 1994 and 'List of information items that belong to state secrets' adopted in 1995 by the State Committee of Ukraine on State Secrets.

Article 34 of the Ukrainian Constitution guarantees 'the right for freedom of thought and speech, the freedom of expression of opinions and convictions'. Each citizen has the right 'to freely collect, store, use and distribute information orally, in writing or in any other way on one's own choice. Realizing these rights may be limited by a law intended at the defence of national security, territorial integrity or public order with the purpose of preventing clashes or crimes, intended at the protection of the population health, reputation or rights of other people, at prevention of disclosing confidential information or for supporting the authority and integrity of the court'.

The law 'On information' guarantees the access to information by defining the system of relations and obligations in this sphere, usual for a democratic state. It prohibits to restrict the access to open information and divides classified information into confidential and secret. Since the confidential information consists of the data which are owned, used, or managed by definite physical or juridical persons, coming into possession of the data by spending their own means, hence the mode of granting and distributing this information is determined by the owners. The secret information is defined as 'state or other secrets, determined by law, divulgence of which will damage either a person, or society, or state'.

The definition of a state secret and the procedure of access to the information which makes a state secret is defined by the law 'On state secrets' and 'List of information items that belong to state secrets'. As to 'other secrets, determined by law', here everything is rather fuzzy. Any law does not contain any defition of military, service and commercial secrets. Thus, relating some information to secrets seem to be defined and regulated by intra-agency acts and instructions. It is known that intra-agency acts are not published in the official press, and in this way state agencies become similar to owners of information, who divulge information or keep it secret as they found best.

Before 1995 Internet developed without any participation of the state. In May 1995 National Agency on Informatization (NAI) was created. The latter word does not exist in Western languages since the denotate does not exist; such words as 'informatization', 'automatization', 'privatization', etc. denote a fruitless state campaign for implementing the corresponding entity. The only American analog of this class of words is, perhaps, Prohibition. NAI must coordinate work of the ministries, other central and local agencies of the executive power, as well as enterprices, offices and organizations, devoted to creation and development of all state informative networks, systems and databases (on national, regional, branch and inter-branch level). NAI must also prepare normative acts regulating informative relation and development of informative space. NAI has their representatives in the Crimea, all 24 regions, Kiev and Sebastopol.

The creation of NAI would not harm anybody if this organization were an equal participant of the information market. But NAI demonstrated two dangerous tendencies: the wish to establish state monopoly at the information market and tends to restrict the distribution of information for reasons of state security and protections of morals.

In Article 17, Section 1, of the Constitution of Ukraine treating the national security of information exchange the latter is declared to be 'the duty of all Ukrainian people'. It would be more reasonable to state that the duty of all Ukrainian people should be preventing the government from interference into the information exchange under the pretext of providing security. This interference has a long history.

In January 1997 the Supreme Rada adopted 'The Conception of the natural security in Ukraine'. Among fundamental principles of the security support many good things were listed, such as observance of human rights, superiority of law, public oversight over the military and other structures in the system of providing the natural security. The Law mentioned possible threats to the national security caused by insufficient control over information: 'information expansion from other countries, leakage of information containing state secrets and other secrets mentioned by the corresponding law, as well as confidential information owned by the state'. It is worth noting that confidential information may be owned by natural or juridical persons, but not by the state, which follows from the Law 'On Information', Article 30. Among the main remedies used for providing the natural security in the information sphere the Conception mentions complex measures aimed at protecting the Ukrainian information space, at entering the world information space and at removal of negative tendencies of violating the Ukrainian information space, as well as at the development of necessary facilities and modes of operation (reception, storage, distribution and use) with socially important information, and at the creation of a well-developed infrastructure in the information sphere.

In April 1997 Parliamentary Readings were held devoted to the topic 'Freedom of Speech in Ukraine: present state, problems, prospects'. The participants remarked: 'Internet may become a threat to state secrets and confidential information of citizens, besides, it can increase the dependence of the national information space on foreign-produced information and alien information policy'.

On February 4, 1998, the Supreme Rada adopted the Law 'On the national program of informatization'. The Law has two main targets; one of them is to provide the national security. This function has to be fulfilled by a central state agency appointed by the Cabinet of Ministers. On the same day the detailing document 'The conception of the national program of informatization' was issued. The document affirmed that Ukraine should overcome her backwardness in the information exchange by following the state policy of informatization. Having read this conception, one can easily understand that the Government is convinced that it must firmly control the development of the information market.

A day before the President issued the Edict on creating the Commission of information security. Aleksandr Below, GeneralLieutenant of the Ukrainian Secret Service, was appointeds the Head of the Commission. Judging by press comments, he has the reputation of an intellectual and serious analyst. In an interview the General stated that the Commission would do all possible not to harass free access to information, except in cases stipulated by law. Aleksandr Matov, the Chairman of the National Agency on informatization at the President's Administration, gave a more detailed statement: any country must control the valuable information outflow, so the measures to be taken have the only purpose of 'ordering' network communications, as it is highly irregular when communications within a country are carried via foreign servers. Mr. Matov pointed out that such discipline would concern only state agencies. He added that it would be undesirable if this campaign would involve Ukrainian providers.

On April 22, 1998 President of Ukraine Leonid Kuchma undersigned the Edict 'On some measures concerning protection of state interests in the information sphere'. According to position 1 of this edict, the State Committee of communications of Ukraine shall procure the exit to foreign networks only from the networks of the enterprises (operators) 'Ukrtelekom', 'Ukrkosmos', 'Infokom'. According to position 2, ministries, other central and local agencies of the executive power, as well as enterprises, offices and organizations that include secret regime subunits shall transmit their data only through these three enterprises.

So, at a first glance, the campaign concerns executive power bodies, local administrations and state structures containing secret-protecting departments. We hope that the edict of 22 April will result in the separation of Internet users into nonstate and state sectors, with imposing special operating modes on the latter only. However, even assuming this optimistic interpretation, in my opinion, the Edict contradicts to the Constitution of Ukraine and can be contested in the Constitutional Court, since it violates the right to distribute information freely (Article 34). The Edict also violates Article 10 of the European Convention on human rights which Ukraine is obliged to obey. Besides, the Edict rudely violates Article 42 of the Constitution that stipulates the freedom of the entrepreneurial activity and forbids monopolies, as well as the number of articles of the Law 'On restricting monopolies and unfair competition', because the demand to use only the services of 'Ukrtelekom', 'Ukrkosmos' and 'Infokom' is a typical 'hard selling which puts competitors into a losing position' (Article 4), 'ousting from the market or restricting the access to the market for purchasers, sellers and other businessmen' (Article 5), 'discrimination of businessmen by government bodies and agencies' (Article 6). In fact the Edict provides monopolistic rights to 'Ukrtelekom', 'Ukrkosmos' and 'Infokom'.

One is left with many unanswered questions. For example, it is not clear what to do with universities and other higher education institutions that always had secret-protecting departments (notorious 'first departments') and recently acquired equipment (usually donated by American or German colleagues or charity funds) for the connection with Western servers via a satellite. Obeying the Edict will break the signed contracts and agreements. Further, the Edict will hamper the financial state of research institutes, which will have to pay much more to the Ukrainian servers listed in the Edict. Research workers, for whom the use of Internet is a necessity because of the information famine in Ukraine, will suffer most and produce less. I am sure that for many of them this difficulty will be the last argument for emigration. As one of researchers noted bitterly, 'the consequence of enforcing this edict will be the fourth wave of emigration of Ukrainian high-tech professionals to a country where the authorities will not stand in the way of their favorite work. The work that does not bring any dividends in our country, the work, to which they devoted all their lives'.

Such fears are not groundless. To be convinced one can read the article written in 'Uriadovyi Kuryer' of 12 February by Pavlo Mysnik, the Chairman of the State Committee on the protection of state secrets and technical protection of information. He writes:

'Information in the modern world is valued exceedingly high, since it makes the initial capital that can yield unforeseeable profit in the future. It is painful to watch how the information is spilt, and sometimes the opportunities contained in the information are being lost. In this aspect the drain of scientific information especially troubles me. Research projects and ideas of our scientists are bought for a song by foreign grantors. The total outflow of information is dangerous to our state now and leaves us without future. That is why the administrations of the National Academy of Sciences, ministries and other bodies that control research institutions must be interested whither leaks the information greatly needed by our state.'

At the same time NAI are preparing some drafts of law aimed at protecting the Ukrainian information space: 'On informative sovereignty of Ukraine', 'On controlling security in data transmitting networks of Ukraine', as well as other drafts regulating information networks and systems. Alas, drafts of laws, edicts and similar legal documents are never publicly discussed, the society faces accomplished facts and is appealed to obey the newly baked laws. The state ignores the society consciously and unconsciously. Generally speaking, restrictive tendencies are becoming stronger and stronger. It is planned that special department on technical protection of information would be created. Some corresponding documents have been prepared, in particular, amendments and additions to the Law 'On state secrets' and the 'Instruction on the procedure of providing regime of secrecy in state and local administration bodies, in enterprises, establishments and organizations of Ukraine'. This instruction closely follows the corresponding instruction that regulated questions of secrecy in the former USSR, many positions are borrowed verbatim.

Instead of the mentioned drafts and amendments one would rather expect, from the point of view human rights, not prohibitions, but prohibitions on the restrictions of the access to international networks for NGOs and private persons. Alas again! Attempting to protect information security, the law-writers imposed stringent restrictions on the access to information. They did not follow the principle adopted in civilized societies: 'deregulate as much as possible and regulate as little as necessary'.

3. Penal law concerning Internet

There are some penal norms that can be connected with Internet.

The responsibility for disclosure of state secrets is regulated by Article 67 of the Penal Code and it lists the punishments as encarceration from two to five years, or, if the disclosure had grave consequences, then to the term from five to eight years. This Article may be applied only to those persons who learned about the state secrets in the course of their official activity. There are no laws that can be applied to persons who are not state officers. Article 68-1 is like to Article 67 and sets the responsibility for collecting and passing service secret to international organizations It is unknown cases of using these articles concerning with Internet. Until now these clauses have never been applied.

Article 198-1 of the Penal Code sets the responsibility for the premeditated intrusion to the work of automatic systems that resulted in distorting or destroying information or information carriers or creating and distributing software or hardware included for illegal intrusion into automatic systems and capable of distortion or destroying informationa and information carriers. It lists the punishments as encarceration up to two years, or coercive work for up to two years, or the fine of 100 to 200 minimal monthly wages. If the disclosure had grave consequences, then to the term from two to five years. There are some cases of using this article for teenagers-hackers but without encarceration.

Article 211 ('import, production, sale and distribution of pornographic items') does not mean the operation in Internet directly. However, at least one precedent is known.

In the end of August 1997 the Ministry of Interior of Ukraine received from the German Branch of Interpol the fax of the following content. On the server 'Relcom-Ukraina' (RU) a number of files was found figuring in the case investigated by the Branch. The case under investigation concerned 'hard/childish porno'. The fax presumed that the server's administrator, having unlimited power, 'could' have access to the files and 'could' be a source of their distribution. The fax was sent to the 'competent agencies' to take up measures they consider proper'.

At first measures were taken that can hardly be called civilized: the RU office was closed, computers were confiscated, operators detained (the three sys-administrators for 15 days). After passing the case to the city derectorate of militia, the investigation acquired a professional form. It was established that the porno-containing files had a 2, 5-year expiry date. Since high fluidity of personnel in the RU office it was not possible to learn who input the files. Besides, according to the professional expertise, the server was not protected enough from the external sources. The case, as having no chances of being investigated', was directed to the archives.

4. Electronic Surveillance

Article 31 of the Constitution of Ukraine adopted on 26 June 1996 states that 'the confidentiality of everyone's correspondence, telephone talks, telegrams, and other communications is guaranteed. Exceptions can be made only by court under the circumstances predetermined by law with the purpose of preventing a crime or establishing truth in investigating a criminal case if it is impossible to get information by other ways'.

The procedure of carrying out such exceptional actions is regulated by the Ukrainian Law 'On crime investigation activities' adopted on 18 February 1992 with changes and amendments adopted during 1992-1993.

Article 9, Sect.8 of this Law grants the right to the organs carrying out the crime investigation activities to tap communication channels and use other technical facilities to obtain information and to intercept messages.

Besides, special units of the MIA and USS for struggle with organized crime have the permission, according to Article 15 of the Law 'On organizational and legal foundations of struggle with organized crime', additionally use special technical facilities in the following cases:

a) control, recording and documentation of talks and other actions of people when there are grounds to believe them connected with the organized crime;

b) recording and documentation of the fact of the telephone conversation between citizens, sending a letter or a telegram, without disclosing the sense of the telephone conversation, letter or telegram;

c) ensuring personal security and safety of dwelling and property of workers of the above-listed organizations, participants in a trial and their near relations (with their agreement) in the case when they are endangered due to their participation in the struggle with organized crime.

Factual data recorded by special organizations with the use of technical facilities can be used as proofs in the trial.