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Where there is no law, but every man does what is right in his own eyes, there is the least of real liberty
Henry M. Robert

Sportyvna hazeta Could Find Itself on the Street

30 March, 1999 - 00:00

By Oleksandr HONCHARUK, Petro MARUSENKO, The Day
Real estate fraud has now become usual, just like drinking a glass of Coca
Cola or taking a bus ride without a ticket.

It is next to impossible to count how many people have ended up on the
street as a result of shady transactions with their hard-earned square
meters and money. But you have to admit that finding the oldest Ukrainian
sports publication, Sportyvna hazeta, under the open skies seems
highly improbable. Though if you remember what happened to Kievskie
Vedomosti...

Sportyvna moved into the top floor of the building at 13 Kostyolna
(then Cheluskintsiv) Street before the Olympic soccer tournament in Kyiv
and has been there for twenty years with Ukraine's sporting hopes and problems.
But, as it turned out, there is no one to take care of the newspaper. The
Ukrahrobiznes Joint Venture, which moved into the same building, became
its owner last year. Since then, says Editor-in-Chief Dmytro Aleksandrenko,
this agricultural company has been squeezing out tenants.

The first gift, as customary, was presented before the New Year in the
person of joint venture's security chief Nianchuk who nearly ordered that
the newspapermen clear out. But, thank God, this did not lead to direct
aggression. And the Arbitration Court, to which the businessmen turned,
declared their arguments insufficient and postponed its decision twice.

 However, this is not the end of the world for the editorial office,
and it is ready to consider any other acceptable option. In the meanwhile,
the readers cannot be absolutely certain whether they will receive the
next issue of their favorite newspaper on time. The Day contacted
the joint venture by telephone. Its director Leonid Kozachenko was away
on business, and Legal Department Manager Olha Babak declined comment on
the situation.

 

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