Don’t be silent!

Popular Ukrainian singer Ruslana Lyzhychko presented her new music video “It’s EI-fori-IA!” which was filmed in prison at a press conference in UNIAN. Ruslana appealed to mass media workers, colleagues in showbiz, and all concerned Ukrainians to join the campaign “Don’t be silent!” against lawlessness, arbitrariness, and bias of the judicial branch in Ukraine.

“Today, those who have to maintain the rule of law in Ukraine create lawlessness and are guided by political, economic, administrative, and other reasons,” said Ruslana LYZHYCHKO to The Day. “None of the Ukrainian people can feel safe in a country with such courts and such judges! With my campaign ‘Don’t be silent!’ and the song “It’s Ei-fori-IA!” I urge everyone to join the perpetual protest ‘Free the Pavlychenkos,’ whose fate is the personification of arbitrariness of judicial system in Ukraine.

After the achievements of the Maidan were dragged in the mud I did not want to hear anything about politics. Even the word ‘patriotism’ irritated me. I have recently toured the United States and after returning home I realized that one cannot be indifferent. I am not afraid to say things that I believe in. They won’t throw everyone in prison! There are people who are imprisoned today even though their guilt is not proven at the legal level. The fate of these people is determined by compromised judicial system led by government. Why were we silent when they threw Yulia Tymoshenko and Yurii Lutsenko in prison? Why were we silent when they disregarded Ukrainian language? And now they have sentenced the Pavlychenkos. We have swallowed these fact as if it is the way things should be done. Don’t we understand that we have been swallowing shit?

“If someone will tell that Ruslana has been to prison it will be true. If you will hear that she was interrogated, this will also be true. If you will hear that Ruslana was severly beaten, this will also be true. My video ‘It’s EI-fori-IA!’ as if brings us back in terrible times of Stalin’s reigning. This video was filmed in Kosoi Caponier – a unique construction in New Pechersk Fortress. I wrote the song myself and it was recorded in a studio in Stockholm by producers who worked with Britney Spears and Celine Dion, they also recorded the song “Running Scared” (duet Ell/Nikki from Azerbaijan), which won the Eurovision-2011. In the song ‘It’s EI-fori-IA!’ I used the most popular Ukrainian instrument – bandura. I think that the theme of being imprisoned, when anyone can be thrown into jail for nothing, unfortunately, today is Ukrainian exotic in the world…”

“Now, a person can not feel safe,” adds Oleksandr Ksenofontov, producer of the singer. “Campaign ‘Don’t be silent!’ is not political! Ruslana emphasizes that it is her civic position, even a cry from the heart, and it has no political connotation. It is her protest against the tyranny of the courts. At the present moment, our legal system does not protect people, but breaks them down and destroys them. Judges are biased. They make decisions guided by political and economic motives. Ruslana joined the ‘Free the Pavlychenkos’ campaign and dedicated her song “It’s EI-fori-IA!” to this. Bandura helped to tell the story in a bright and expressive way. A young boy is playing the bandura behind bars. By putting shackles on bandura we put shackles on Ukraine and each one of us…”