Ukraine’s ex-Interior Minister behind bars
About a week ago the Ukrainian public was shocked by police brutality in Minsk when dispersing protest rallies and arresting opposition leaders. Anything like that in Ukraine seemed inconceivable. True enough, the current Ukrainian administration is lagging behind its counterparts in Russia and Belarus, where dissidents are persecuted, prosecuted, and tend to vanish without a trace. Recent events in Ukraine, however, are proof that we are on our way to catch up with them.
The time for Lutsenko’s arrest was chosen well — before New Year’s Eve, with everyone busy making preparations. As the rest of the civilized world, Ukraine was out of sync in the political context, with all talk shows closed for the holidays. It was then the repressive government machine was activated.
On December 27, Pechersk District Court ruled to keep ex-Interior Minister Yurii Lutsenko in custody for two months.
Here the sequence of events is important. Lutsenko’s arrest involved eleven (sic) Alpha [elite police forces — Ed.]men, and took place on Sunday, of all days. Why? They had been waiting for him to take out his dog and then grabbed him. Was that because Lutsenko posed a clear and present danger to society?
By the evening it transpired that Lutsenko was arrested on charges of complicity in [ex-President Yushchenko’s] dioxin poisoning, allegedly to prevent him from continuing to abuse his office. Absurd, considering that Lutsenko had long been relieved of his post as Minister of the Interior.
Lutsenko conveyed this message through his defense counsel: “I wish to congratulate Viktor Yushchenko on finally apprehending the guilty party in his poisoning case, after six years of investigation.”
“This is a demonstrative chewing out, meant to pressure the opposition. They don’t care about the reasons behind the arrest; they’re looking for any excuse,” Oles Donii stated in front of the Prosecutor General’s Office (PGO) where he’d arrived from the courtroom.
The picket at the PGO was slim: about 50 persons, including several MPs, among them BYuT’s Andrii Pavlovsky who was among the first to arrive: “They act the way they please; they’re prepared to resort to repressive measures against people who aren’t thinking the way they are, who have a different view on this country’s progress. The KGB arrested Viacheslav Chornovil, Stepan Khmara, and Levko Lukianenko on criminal rather than political charges. We have the same situation here.”
Among those present I spotted Oleksandr Chernenko, chairman of the Ukrainian Voters’ Committee. He said: “I came here because apparently the times when your door is broken down and you’re taken away are returning. No one is sure this won’t happen now.”
In an interview with TSN on Sunday, Viktor Yanukovych described the brawl at the Verkhovna Rada as a “debate showing a bit of excess.” How about our current government showing a bit of excess? This explains a lot: the fistfight in parliament, rigged arrests and criminal cases.
