No one knows who set up the Prosecutor's Office
By Anatoly LEMYSH, The Day
The case started by Kyiv City Prosecutor's Office vs. Serhiy Rakhmanin
and his satire, "Drooping Virgin Soil," burst like a bubble.
True, Ukrainian Procurator General Mykhailo Potebenko had to stamp his
foot and order the case closed. Serhiy Rakhmanin, when reporting to the
Prosecutor's Office for questioning and suddenly hearing apologies, said
it is still unknown who actually considers himself damaged in terms of
defamation of character after reading his play. He added that the editors
are still trying to find out. "Everybody is equal before the law. When
they started the case they had to have valid reasons," Mr. Rakhmanin said.
In ancient Greek and Roman drama such sudden turn of events was known
as deus ex machina, the god in the machine, meaning a god introduced
into a play to resolve the plot tangles (i.e., the stage machinery from
which a deity's statue was lowered). One may wonder, of course, what deity
actually intervened, the Procurator General or someone very high above
who, after studying the case, saw it was stupid. Actually, it was the least
the President could do under the circumstances, considering the embarrassing
situation he had found himself in, due to his sycophants' efforts.
In its Saturday issue the Zerkalo Nedeli's chief editor Volodymyr
Mostovy thanked his colleagues, particularly The Day, for solidarity
and active efforts to awaken the general public to how outrageous the affair
was. As a result, the bureaucrats could not quietly have their revenge
on a journalist and newspaper that had "gone too far."
A very good lesson, except that one can only hope that those concerned
will learn it.






