The Union of Transport Firms and Union of Drivers are calling on the traffic police to not obstruct the movement of people taking part in the 19 May protest amd on the media to ensure objective coverage of all preparations for it

The police claim that the protest in Kyiv outside the Verkhovna Rada which was entitled “Day of Rage” and supposed to be indefinite was banned by the court. The protest organizers assert that Ukrainians have the right to peaceful protest.

This was the key question at a press conference called in connection with recent proposals from the Party of the Regions to ban financing of NGOs from abroad, as well as with the possible consideration by parliament on 12 May of the draft Law on Civic Organizations (No. 7262-1).

The criminal case involving charges against six people who allegedly “damaged” the granite on Independence Square during the peaceful protests against the draft Tax Code late last year has been sent back to the Kyiv Prosecutor’s Office to remove infringements during the investigation

On 27 April , the anniversary of the contentious Kharkiv Accords and the day that Freedom House published a report sounding the alarm over the decline of democracy under President Yanukovych, there were reports that people were prevented from attending peaceful demonstrations

Member of the Foundation for Regional Initiatives, Maxim Kytsiuk was with force but no explanation pushed into a police car during a protest outside the President’s Administration. The other activists blocked the car, and within half an hour they managed to obtain Maxim’s release

The Pechersky District Court in Kyiv has rejected an application to release Tax Code protester, Serhiy Kostyakov, under Deputy guarantee, and say this demonstrates the politically motivated nature of the prosecution

In a recent interview, lawyer for the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union, Oleh Levytsky spoke of the most shocking case in his experience, the first prosecutions in independent Ukraine of those defending their constitutional right to freedom of assembly

Those accused of damaging the granite stone during the Tax Code protest on Maidan Nezalezhnosti say they were not informed the case had been sent to court and believe the unseemly haste indicates that even the verdict has been prepared in advance

The Investigator, who cites pressure from above, would seem to have no time for such “empty formalities” as allowing the accused to see the file material of this highly questionable criminal investigation in the presence of his lawyer

In their article, the authors note that last year human rights groups pointed to a serious increase in cases where the authorities interfered in the right of freedom of peaceful assembly. Their analysis of such trends provides disturbing reading

The traffic police are drawing up protocols against 10 participants in the Tax Code protest car rally for infringement of parking regulations on European Square in Kyiv.

The Dnipropetrovsk Regional Administrative Court has banned a car rally by small business owners from passing through Dnipropetrovsk as part of a nationwide protest against the Tax Code

Oleksandr Zaplatkin, one of the people charged with causing deliberate damage to the granite stones on Maidan Nezalezhnosti [Independence Square] during the protests against the new Tax Code last year has been released from custody

The Head of the Kharkiv Department of the Ministry of the Interior has stated that criminal proceedings may be initiated against workers of the State-owned Shevchenko Instrument-making Factory who on Monday blocked a road for three hours in protest at serious wages arrears

Serhiy Kostakov has been held in custody since 1 December 2010 and is accused of damaging a car driving along a street which the protesters had blocked with there being absolutely no profof except the assertion of the car’s driver

The Verkhovna Rada has rejected a resolution regarding the violation of the constitutional rights of citizens arrested or detained after the protest on Maidan Nezalezhnosti [Independence Square] over the Tax Code [the Tax Code Maidan]

Ihor had declared a hunger strike on 1 March in protest at his remand and at what many view as worryingly selective prosecutions

He is accused of creating a criminal group which during the protests by small business owners at the end of last year allegedly caused damage to the state of more than 200 thousand UAH

Ihor Garkavenko , one of the people charged over the Tax Code Protest in Kyiv has gone on hunger strike in the SIZO [pre-trial detention centre] where he has been held since late December