Tolerance cannot be expected when the State-owned television channel distorts or conceals information of vital importance and even the Head of the European Commission in Ukraine is stopped from explaining their position to Ukrainian viewers

On Thursday evening, the Verkhovna Rada passed in full the draft bill on the parliamentary elections with a 50-50 mixed system, a ban on participation in the elections by electoral blocs and a 5% threshold for getting into parliament

It has been learned that a month ago the Prosecutor of the Ordzhonikidze District in Kharkiv once again terminated the criminal investigation into allegations of police torture from Svitlana Pomilyaiko

The present regime balks at no means for consolidating its power, while given the appropriate instructions from above, any draft law will receive the necessary number of votes. This is why vociferous protest is vital over proposed amendments to the Morality Act. Yet for those very same reasons it would be dangerous to concentrate only on fighting this one law

The Head of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People, Mustafa Dzhemiliev has commented to TV 1 + 1 on the appointment by President Yanukovych of Anatoly Mohylyov Prime Minister of the Crimea

Two thousand took part in a demonstration calling for parliament’s dissolution on 3 November. In Donetsk there were 3 thousand, the largest demonstration in recent times

Ukrainian political technology of the present day does not envisage a one-off imposition of dictatorship, but steadily accustoms the population to loss of their freedom

Ukrainian political technology of the present day does not envisage a one-off imposition of dictatorship, but steadily accustoms the population to loss of their freedom

Civic organizations have recently recorded an increase in monitoring by the authorities of their activities, the civic partnership “New Citizen” informs. Information about NGOs is, for example, being gathered by the State Tax Service and State Administrations.

More conflicting evidence in the examination into the death of Ihor Indylo, the young student who died of injuries he received in a Kyiv police cell in the earlier hours of what should have been his twentieth birthday

The Civic Consortium of Electoral Initiatives not only reiterates the points of criticism noted by the Venice Commission, including the lack of transparency and consultation with the opposition and the public, but also points out crucial discrepancies between this law and that shown the Venice Commission

The Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union has addressed an open letter to the Speaker of Parliament and chairs of various parliamentary committees regarding a bill which proposes introducing liability for what it calls “propaganda of homosexuality”.

Marina Nikolayeva decided to check out how the Public Information Act and its norm on income declarations work by examining those of Kharkiv Governor Dobkin and Mayor Kernes. The comparison between their statements and reality makes shocking reading

Historian Mikhail Suprun who has been collecting information about Germans deported to Siberia during WWII and archivist Alexander Dudarev are being prosecuted under an article of the Personal Data Protection Law

In response to President Yanukovych’s statement that “releasing Tymoshenko would give the wrong signal to society”, some thoughts on the signals given society by the carefully orchestrated trial, verdict and new criminal prosecution of the former Prime Minister and opposition leader

The many problems not addressed include the lack of clear definition of “malicious disobedience” which the police can therefore use as they choose, and the practice of avoiding formal processing of detention, leaving a person without any protection

A number of NGOs have issued a statement accusing the government of totally ignoring the public’s demand for transparency and maximum involvement of civic experts in drawing up the new law.on the parliamentary elections

For more than two years the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights with respect to Lutsenko v. Ukraine has remained unenforced. During that period Stanislav Lutsenko has been serving a prison sentence on the basis of a conviction whose questionable nature was confirmed by the European Court of Human Rights.

Despite being declared illegal in early 2008, there is all too much evidence that the notorious "special units" or anti-terrorist units used to intimidate and ill-treat prisoners

On Wednesday a search was carried out of the flat owned by Alexander Kovalyov, leader of the Afghanistan War Veteran NGO “Nobody Except Us”. The search comes less than a month after major protests in Kyiv and an attempt by the war veterans to storm parliament over plans to cut benefits