Former Prisoners of Conscience Fear Threat of Totalitarianism

The former political prisoners stated with sorrow that the extremely hard material circumstances, decline of the national idea, and danger of the Left returning to power could wipe away everything they have fought for and achieved. They are very concerned with what they think a possible alignment of political forces: Petro Symonenko as Speaker, Oleksandr Moroz Prime Minister, and Oleksandr Tkachenko President. Cochairman of the Poltava Oblast Society of Political Prisoners and the Repressed Volodymyr Hnitko told The Day his own vision of the situation: "Yevhen Marchuk is the only decent candidate for President of Ukraine. As a security forces general, he is able to bring order to the country. We see how Kuchma cannot curtail arbitrariness. Former Communist Party and Communist Youth League functionaries with close ties to oligarchic clans remain in power. We, former political prisoners, do not blame the KGB for all our woes, for they were only an instrument in the hands of the Communist Party that directly persecuted us."