person:ruslan kotsaba

The Draft Dodgers of Ukraine | Foreign Policy
▻http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/02/18/the-draft-dodgers-of-ukraine-russia-putin

Last week, high-profile journalist Ruslan Kotsaba was detained on charges of treason and espionage after he spoke out against mobilization. Days later, President Petro Poroshenko announced that the security service had “detained 19 active critics of mobilization” for their “anti-Ukrainian activity.” New regulations reportedly in the works could soon prevent those eligible from service for going abroad or even leaving their home regions without permission.

The reports of large-scale draft dodging have raised questions about whether Ukraine will, in the face of a cease-fire that appears increasingly shaky, be able to recruit the manpower it needs to defend itself against Russia aggression — and whether it will be able to do so without repressing freedom of speech or civil liberties.

#Ukraine #conscription #répression

Ukrainian journalists fall prey to hyper-patriotism
▻http://www.kyivpost.com/content/kyiv-post-plus/ukrainian-journalists-fall-prey-to-hyper-patriotism-380572.html

Ukraine’s authorities arrested a second Ukrainian journalist on charges of treason today, according to the reporter’s employer in St. Petersburg-based, Nevskie Novosti. The local news agency said that Andrey Zakharchuk had been accused of “inaccurately reporting events in Ukraine."

The Kyiv Post made several efforts to contact Ukraine’s General Prosecutor’s Office, but no officials were available to comment on the case. According to Ukrainian news agency UNN, police also suspect Zakharchuk of spying on Ukraine and stoking unrest in the country, but those charges were not described in the warrant issued against him.

Despite braving bullets to fight for freedom first from the Yanukovych regime, then from Russian-backed militants, Ukrainians are increasingly forgetting that the right to free expression applies not only to the expression of views they agree with.

Zakharchuk’s arrest comes hot on the heels of treason accusations brought on Feb. 8 against Ivano-Frankivsk resident Ruslan Kotsaba, detained after he posted a video address to Ukraine’s President Poroshenko opposing conscription in Ukraine. Kotsaba claimed he would rather spend up to five years in jail for refusal of being drafted to the army than start killing his “fellow citizens who live in the east."

Faut dire Zakhartchouk bosse pour un journal russe…

Pour R. Kotsaba, c’était ici ►http://seenthis.net/messages/340578 et là ►http://seenthis.net/messages/337784

Not everyone answering Ukraine’s call to mobilize for war
▻http://www.kyivpost.com/content/kyiv-post-plus/not-everyone-answering-ukraines-call-to-mobilize-for-war-380055.html

The arrest of an Ivano-Frankivsk journalist whose campaign against general mobilization has highlighted the problems that Ukraine has been having in getting its men to fight in the war against Russia.

On Feb. 8, Ruslan Kotsaba, a vocal campaigner against the military draft, was arrested in a courtroom in him home town in western Ukraine. In his recent video address to President Petro Poroshenko, Kotsaba claimed he would rather spend up to five years in jail for refusal of being drafted to the army than start killing his “fellow citizens who live in the east.”

Now Kotsaba actually faces up to 15 years in jail, because the security service has accused him of state treason and spying activities, Security Service of Ukraine senior adviser Markian Lubkivskyi wrote on his Facebook page. Lubkivsky said that the SBU found evidence of his crimes among his belongings.

The arrest caused an outcry among the public, and highlighted the differing opinions of the war that Ukraine has had to contend with since mobilization of young men began more than nine months ago.

Et devinez ce que les services ont trouvé chez ce misérable défaitiste ?
Des preuves de ses activités d’espionnage !
Encore un à la solde de VVP !

Ukraine’s war is getting worse. Unfortunately, not everyone wants to fight | GlobalPost
▻http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/europe/150131/ukraine-war-getting-worse-unfortunately-not-everyone-wants-fight

Ruslan Kotsaba is someone you’d typically consider a Ukrainian patriot: a journalist in the country’s nationalist-oriented west, he’s participated in pro-democracy protests and regularly rails against official corruption.

So it may seem strange that earlier this month he slammed his country’s war effort against Russian-backed separatists.

“I denounce mobilization [for war],” Kotsaba said in a video posted to YouTube on Jan. 17. “I call on all reasonableadequatepeopleto denounce this mobilization, because this hell, this horror, must be stopped.”
(…)
Local media have reported anti-draft protests and instances of no-shows at local military commissions in several regions.

A presidential adviser even claimed earlier this week that about 37 percent of those called up in one western region, traditionally known for its nationalist convictions, had reportedly fled abroad. In a separate nearby region, almost one in five of those drafted reportedly claimed religious exemptions.
(…)
Ukrainian men aged 25-60 are eligible for conscription. Preference is given to those with military experience and with particular specializations, such as tank training.

But authorities have also sought to crack down on attempts to avoid conscription. On Friday, Poroshenko issued a decree that includes a provision aimed at regulating foreign travel for those subject to mobilization.

The military has also created a database to keep track of offenders, who face two to five years in prison if found guilty of dodging the draft.
(…)
Some Ukrainian rights activists have also taken issue with the legal ambiguity of the conflict, arguing that in absence of a clear state of war, conscripts can legally challenge the draft. Others say mobilization is legally applicable in any instances of “armed aggression,” not only when martial law — or a state of war — is formally declared.