The SBU [Security Service] asserts that the historian Ruslan Zabily is an SBU employee and was detained for 14 and a half hours on Wednesday for planning to divulge State secrets.

On 8 September in Kyiv the Director of the National Memorial Museum of Victims of the Occupation Regimes “Tyurma na Lonskoho” (Lviv), Ruslan Zabily was detained for 14 and a half hours

The Verkhovna Rada on Friday rejected the Law “On access to public information” and sent it back for a repeat second reading

In his article “Privacy’s triumphant move”, Dmytro Chopovsky from the Institute for Mass Information analyzes the Law on Personal Data Protection recently signed into law by the President despite calls from business, human rights and media organizations. His assessment is equally damning

Ukraine’s authorities remain absurdly secretive and a lot of conflict, as well as many rights violations, occur because public information is concealed

Despite calls from human rights, media and business groups, the President yesterday signed into law the potentially disastrous Law on Personal Data Protection

The Media Law Institute, “Telekritika” and the Institute for Mass Information have addressed an open letter to the President and Prime Minister calling on them to sign the Council of Europe Convention on Access to Official Documents

Order No.114 from the Department of Education of the Sviatoshynsk District Administration in Kyiv is difficult to read without Orwell’s “1984” going through ones mind

Despite initial plans by the new government to reduce spending on officialdom by 20%, this expenditure has, according to the weekly “Commentaries”, increased by 20%.

The Institute and government have agreed on principles for the Institute’s future work, these based on the consolidation of society. The Deputy Prime Minister has agreed on the need to avoid public statements against members of UPA and the Soviet Army since Ukrainians fought among their numbers during the Second World War.

Freedom of information and the right to privacy in the context of access to archival material regarding political repression in the USSR and how investigative operations which infringe human rights comply with case law under Article 8 of the European Court of Human Rights

Failure to reveal plans for construction and planning is not only in breach of Ukrainian legislation and international practice, but also creates fertile ground for corrupt practices and violations of people’s civil rights

Rumours about the possible dissolution of the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance compelled its representatives on Tuesday to present their institution to the public

V. Semynozhenko, the deputy prime minister for humanitarian affairs, has ordered the justice and education ministries to review “the future functioning” of the renowned Ukrainian Institute for National Memory -- a move that critics fear will lead to its liquidation and roll back democracy

We consider that the termination of work on processing and publishing archival material of the SBU Central Archive would be a step backwards in the affirmation of democracy in our country and what is more, an adverse message for other countries regarding the Ukrainian leadership’s rejection of basic democratic values

The SBU electronic database contains over 17 thousand copies of archival documents. More than double this number were ready to be added to the database, however the process has been stopped

An open letter to Valeriy Khoroshkovsky regarding his statements that there is no need for more declassifying of archival documents

Valery Khoroshkovsky, the new Head of the Security Service [SBU] believes that the Security Service should reduce work with archives and concentrate on its main tasks

The Luhansk based East Ukrainian Centre for Civic Initiatives has reported on the results of their investigation into the accessibility (or lack of such) to the public of the general plans for 70 cities in Ukraine

The Ministry of Justice is to publish over 800 Presidential decrees and instructions which have had the stamp “Not to be published” removed