For the first time those showing contempt of national symbols can be punished
The Kirov District Court in Dnipropetrovsk started hearing a criminal case involving two leaders of the lcoal Lenin Communist Youth League (Komsomol) charged by the prosecutor’s office of publicly profaning the Tryzub (Trident) as the National Emblem of Ukraine. On May 24, 2002, when celebrating Independence Day, the district state administration’s domestic policy department staged an exposition of political parties and volunteer organizations in Hloba Park, in the center of Dnipropetrovsk. The city’s Komsomol organization was also invited to take part and its functionaries obviously decided to use the occasion to carry out “work with the masses.”
Documents in the case testify that Andriy Bondarenko and Andriy Starzhko, first secretaries of the district and city Komsomol, respectively, drafted a leaflet before the festivities. It depicted the Trident superimposed by crossbones. In the course of investigation it was established that 200 copies of the leaflet were produced at the office of the CPU district committee, allegedly with the knowledge and consent of First Secretary and MP Viktor Borshchevsky. Komsomol activists placed the copies on a small table by their exhibition stand, so any visitor could pick one. Militiamen patrolling the territory did so, too, and considered the picture an abuse of the national symbols. A statement was made, with copies of the leaflet attached, and administrative proceedings evolved in a criminal case handled by the Kirov District Prosecutor’s Office. Bondarenko and Strazhko were pressed charges as per Article 338, Section 1, of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, envisaging amenability for publicly profaning national symbols.
The Dnipropetrovsk Komsomol functionaries, of course, insist they have not done anything unlawful. Andriy Strazhko, first secretary of the Komsomol city committee, told The Day that they wanted people to know that the Ukrainian population was decreasing. And nor was there anything criminal about the trident and crossbones, because the criminal code article deals with the “genuine national emblem” and Ukraine, in his own words, does not have one. Instead there is that trident which, although recognized as a “small emblem of Ukraine” by the Verkhovna Rada, February 19, 1992, is actually a” major element of the Great National Emblem.” The latter has not been adopted by parliament, not even after the enactment of the Constitution. In view of this (so the Komsomol functionaries maintain), what they did cannot be regarded as a criminal offense. Their lawyer Viktor Horbatenko is of the same opinion; be believes the case should be dismissed.
Interestingly, people representing certain national patriotic forces took a rather tolerant stand in the matter. Anatoly Sokorynsky, deputy chairman of the regional organization of the People’s Rukh of Ukraine, believes that the Komsomol activists should be issued an official warning for contempt of the national symbol, and that the case should not be brought to the court. Apparently, the Rukhists do not consider their partners in the project “Rise Up, Ukraine!” as serious transgressors, and that their age ought to be taken into account.
Anyway, the district court will have the final say. If found guilty, the Komsomol functionaries may be levied a heavy fine or receive six months. In addition, lawyers point to the possibility of a legal precedent, as specific individual will be meted out punished for profaning the national symbols.
