Another Chornobyl clean-up activist detained

Another leader of the Kharkiv former Chornobyl clean-up workers, Petro Prokopenko has been detained by police. He was detained in Pukhovychy where the conference is taking place of the NGO Chornobyl Union of Ukraine and is being brought to Kharkiv.

The information issued by the Kharkiv Regional MIA Press Service claiming that Vladimir Proskurin had been released is not correct.  As reported, police arrived at Mr Proskurin’s home early on Friday morning and took him in for questioning. 

There were no grounds for such a move by the police.  Mr Proskurin and other former Chornobyl clean-up workers had received summonses on Thursday.  They are supposedly being questioned as witnesses in a criminal investigation over alleged forgery of ID for Chornobyl clean-up workers.  These men have been prominent in the protests against reduction and non-payment of pensions and benefits to which they are entitled by law.  The sheer improbability of their having any connection with forged IDs is therefore grotesque.

The men had asked for the questioning to be postponed since they were due to attend the conference in Pukhovychy.  The Chornobyl Union of Ukraine has been actively involved in negotiations with the authorities, and by no means all former Chornobyl clean-up workers believe that the organization is representing their interests.  The conference is therefore crucial, and the unwillingness by the police to delay questioning and their actions on Friday with respect to two of the Kharkiv movement’s leaders give grounds for serious concern.

Please see the report below for more details.