publishedmedium:the kyiv post

Media: National Guard, Kherson battalion troops beat Crimean blockade activists (UPDATED)
▻http://www.kyivpost.com/content/kyiv-post-plus/media-national-guard-kherson-battalion-troops-beat-crimean-blockade-activi

About 100 Ukrainian National Guard troops and soldiers from the Kherson Battalion have beaten a group of activists enforcing an unofficial blockade of Ukraine’s Russian-occupied territory of Crimea, Ukrainian media reported on Nov. 21.

The troops were reported to have surrounded a group of activists near the town of Chaplynka, at the site of some high-voltage power line pylons reported to have been damaged by explosions in the early hours of Nov. 20.

According to Shevket Namatullaev, a journalist of the Crimean Tatar television channel ATR, the armed troops were beating the activists away from the area with their rifle butts. He said several Crimean Tatar activists had been injured.
[…]
According to the spokeswoman of the National Guard of Ukraine, Svitlana Pavlovska, the National Guard has yet to arrive in the area. However, she said that the guardsmen had been ordered by the Interior Ministry to provide security while the power pylons are being repaired.

“In accordance with the Interior Ministry leadership’s decision, the National Guard has been sent to secure areas, along with the national police and other law enforcement agencies, where electrical supply lines were damaged in order to ensure and provide security while they’re being repaired,” Pavlovska told the Kyiv Post by phone.

“The National Guard hasn’t arrived yet to those areas. It has no orders that are related to the so-called blockade / roadblock of Crimea from the mainland,” she added.

Officials say the damage to the electricity pylons could threaten the power supply to 40 percent of Kherson and Mykolayiv oblasts, Ukrainian television channel 24 Kanal reported.

Crimean Tatar activists, along with fighters from the ultra-nationalist Right Sector organization, have been blockading the Russian-occupied Crimean peninsula for several weeks, preventing heavy goods vehicles from entering the annexed Ukrainian territory.

Ukraine ’chooses homophobia over EU integration’
▻http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/ukraine-chooses-homophobia-over-eu-integration-401535.html

Even after the European Union reminded Ukraine that a visa-free regime would depend on the adoption of certain human rights bills, Ukraine’s parliament on Nov. 5 failed to pass a landmark bill on discrimination – a move that activists say may scare Europe off for years to come.
[…]
The anti-discrimination bill submitted to parliament was prescribed in the EU-Ukraine Action Plan on visa liberalization. Not only did the legislation lay out protections for homosexuals; it also prohibited discrimination on the basis of skin color and religious belief.

But with a suspiciously large number of lawmakers absent during the vote and many abstentions, the bill failed to pass, with a mere 117 votes out of the required 226.

Political consultant Taras Beresovets said that even liberal lawmakers voted against, fearing that homophobic sentiment among voters might hurt their support.

Some lawmakers cited “Christian” or “conservative” values for their reluctance to vote for the anti-discrimination amendment to the Labor Code. Some argued that approval of the bill would lead to the legalization of gay marriage – a claim that drew indignation from gay rights and human rights activists.

Incumbent Odesa Mayor Trukhanov declared winner in Oct. 25 mayoral election
▻http://www.kyivpost.com/content/politics/incumbent-odesa-mayor-trukhanov-declared-winner-in-oct-25-mayoral-election

The Odesa city elections commission has declared incumbent Mayor Hennadiy Trukhanov the winner in the mayoral elections, even though Odesa regional administration chief Mikheil Saakashvili had suggested earlier that Trukhanov and his main rival should run in the second round.

The city elections commission head announced on Oct. 27 evening that Trukhanov had garnered nearly 139,000 votes, or 52.9 percent of all those who cast their ballots in the elections, so securing his victory in the first round.

Oleksandr Borovyk (Sasha Borovyk), an adviser to the Odesa regional administration head, came in second with 66,500 votes, or 25.7 percent of the vote. Former Odesa Mayor Eduard Hurvits came in third, having garnered 22,500 votes, or 8.5 percent of the vote.

H. Trukhanov était membre du Parti des Régions de Ianoukovytch.

Ukraine’s media : ’Oligarchs remain in control and the promise of Maidan has not been fulfilled’ - watch on - uatoday.tv
▻http://uatoday.tv/society/ukraine-s-media-oligarchs-remain-in-control-and-the-promise-of-maidan-has-no

“Progress has been made in Ukraine, but institutions remain weak and true independence is still elusive.” Those were the words of Brian Bonner, the chief editor of English-language weekly The Kyiv Post and a man with more than a decade of experience working in the Ukrainian media. He joined us in the Viewpoint studio.

“Relatively we are much freer than Russian and most of the former Soviet republics.”

“If you look at media ownership that we have, media analysts have looked at it: the same top five oligarchs own most of the media. [...] What the media monitors say is when they analyze the coverage, they can tell just by the content who owns it. This suggests that the owners are sill interfering in the editorial policy, and that’s detrimenta to the free speech.”

Point de vue du rédacteur en chef du Kyiv Post.

OSCE observer in Luhansk region found to be Russian intelligence officer - media
▻http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/osce-observer-in-luhansk-region-found-to-be-russian-intelligence-officer-m

An observer of the Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) of the OSCE in Luhansk region, Maxim Udovichenko, has been revealed to be an employee of the Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) of the Russian Federation, the TSN news service of the “1+1” TV channel has reported.

(intégralité de la brève)

Ça ne va pas arranger les membres de la mission qui sont — déjà — soupçonnés par les deux côtés…

Élections locales en Ukraine 25/10/15

Version ministère de l’Intérieur #Tout_va_bien (so far : 17h11 locales)
Ukrainian Interior Ministry does not register serious violations on election day so far
▻http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/ukrainian-interior-ministry-does-not-register-serious-violations-on-electi

http://www.kyivpost.com/media/images/2015/10/25/p1a2fp2e2f13l0gqdpm11vrh2q04/original_big.jpg

The Ukrainian Interior Ministry has not registered any serious mass violations related to the electoral process so far.

(intégralité)

War machines arise from Kyiv’s ’tank cemetery’
▻http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/war-machines-arise-from-kyivs-tank-cemetery-399967.html

http://www.kyivpost.com/media/images/2015/10/14/p1a1imntcctsf1lsg1p141559ctt5/original_big.JPG

“Ukraine had approximately 5,000 to 7,000 tanks left after the breakup of Soviet Union,” military expert and director of consulting firm Defense Express Serhiy Zhurets told the Kyiv Post. “But I doubt that the government has allocated any funds for tank maintenance at all for the last 25 years. About 10 tanks could have been kept in good condition, but no more.”
[…]
What is known is that hundreds, perhaps thousands, have ended up in outdoor storage sites dotted around the country, like the Kyiv Armored Vehicles Plant. The plant, which was designed to produce new tanks and armored personnel carriers, as well as repair them, has mostly been used as a storage site for Defense Ministry’s property since Ukraine became independent.
[…]
There are at least 350 tank hulks in the plant’s outdoor storage area – equal to perhaps a third of Ukraine’s present tank force.

Avec une galerie de 17 photos prises sur le site
▻http://www.kyivpost.com/multimedia/photo/ukroboronprom-tank-cemetery-399944.html

Experts : Media owners overtake government as top threat to free speech
▻http://www.kyivpost.com/content/kyiv-post-plus/experts-media-owners-overtake-government-as-top-threat-to-free-speech-3986

Oksana Romaniuk, the acting head of the Institute of Mass Information, a Ukrainian non-governmental organization, agreed, telling the Kyiv Post that the owners’ grip on their media is so strong that “we can now identify media ownership just by their content.”

“Owners’ censorship is one of the most serious challenges to freedom of speech,” she said. “Earlier, before the EuroMaidan Revolution, we could be talking about pressure from the authorities. Now the situation has become polarized, and the channels cover news according to their owners’ interests. There is no balanced coverage of what is happening. People don’t know about the reforms that are going on, because coverage is biased.”

Comme quoi, l’Ukraine devient un état moderne : il n’y a plus (besoin) de censure.

Brian Bonner: Bandits of Ukraine, keep stealing with impunity
▻http://www.kyivpost.com/opinion/op-ed/bandits-of-ukraine-keep-stealing-with-impunity-398150.html

Bandits of Ukraine, keep stealing with impunity. Nobody in authority is going to stop you – especially if you’re rich, powerful or able to pay hefty bribes to the right person.

That’s my conclusion after listening to panel discussions at the 12th annual Yalta European Strategy from Sept. 10-12, taking place for the second year in Kyiv since Crimea’s Yalta remains under Russian occupation.

I have been in Ukraine for a long time. But I can still appreciate the sad irony of a conference run by a billionaire oligarch, Victor Pinchuk, with another billionaire oligarch, Rinat Akhmetov’s DTEK, as a special partner, organizing a round-table talk called: “Rule of Law, De-Oligarchization, Fighting Corruption: Any News?”

Let me answer the question: No. There is no news. There is no de-oligarchization campaign and there is no fight against corruption under way – at least not one from people in the institutions that should be waging it: judges, prosecutors and police.

Brian Bonner has served as the chief editor of the Kyiv Post since 2008.[…] He also worked as a member of the core teams with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe during six election observation missions in Ukraine, Belarus, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan.

Shuster’s political show cut off air, raising free-speech concerns once more
▻http://www.kyivpost.com/content/politics/top-political-show-cut-off-air-triggers-parallels-to-yanukovych-era-questi

Ukraine’s top political talk show Shuster Live was cut off the air on Ukraine’s leading Channel 1+1 right before the program was supposed to start.

The controversial decision of the channel’s administration has received a strident backlash from Savic Shuster, the show’s host, who compared the situation to late November 2013, when his show was canceled during President Viktor Yanukovych’s authoritative rule that ended on Feb. 22, 2014, with the EuroMaidan Revolution.

“This is an insult against the people, to say the least,” Shuster said. “I think this is an agreement between the owner (oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky) of Channel 1+1 and the president’s administration. I don’t know on what grounds and, more so, for what reasons.”

The Kyiv Post is still waiting for a response from the president’s spokesperson.

Instead of the show, Channel 1+1 showed Zimniy Vals (Winter Waltz), a Russian melodrama TV series.

“This is like Swan Lake in 1991,” Shuster said, reminding of the attempt of censorship control during the collapse of the Soviet Union, where the Soviet Communist Party wanted to take one last chance of restoring authoritarian control. The ballet Swan Lake was shown on television instead of the heated events in Moscow.
[…]
Shuster Live, however, was broadcast at www.3s.tv, the show’s official website, and then, soon after being canceled on Channel 1+1, on channel 112.

During the show Shuster received a letter from Oleksandr Tkachenko, the general director of Channel 1+1, mentioning that Sushter Live does not have the right to broadcast the show on another channel, since it was not in the license agreement.

“We did not have in our agreement that you could broadcast us as you wish, and like some kind of trash, throw us from left to right,” Shuster replied. “Tkachenko, you of course are a colleague journalist but I am not your slave, I am not some sort of shit in your hands. Look into the mirror more often – maybe you will see more truth there.”
[…]
Lyashko believes that the channel was pressured by the president’s administration because of his presence at the show. Lyashko was planning to defend Ihor Mosiychuk, a Radical Party member who was controversially stripped of immunity and arrested on Sept. 17 during a parliament session.

He said that the decision to cancel the program was a result of a deal between Poroshenko and Kolomoiskiy.

“An oligarch will go to the president, find an agreement, the president will give a command, and the oligarch closes down the program,” Lyashko said.

Ukraine bans journalists who ’threaten national interests’ from country | World news | The Guardian
▻http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/16/ukraine-president-bans-journalists-from-country

President Petro Poroshenko has banned two BBC correspondents from Ukraine along with many Russian journalists and public figures.

The long-serving BBC Moscow correspondent Steve Rosenberg and producer Emma Wells have been barred from entering the country, according to a list published on the presidential website on Wednesday. The decree says those listed were banned for one year for being a “threat to national interests” or promoting “terrorist activities”.

BBC cameraman Anton Chicherov was also banned, along with Spanish journalists Antonio Pampliega and Ángel Sastre, who went missing, presumed kidnapped, in Syria in July.
[…]
Andrew Roy, the BBC’s foreign editor, said: “This is a shameful attack on media freedom. These sanctions are completely inappropriate and inexplicable measures to take against BBC journalists who are reporting the situation in Ukraine impartially and objectively and we call on the Ukrainian government to remove their names from this list immediately.’

The reason for the BBC correspondents’ ban was not clear, but media coverage of the conflict with the rebels – whom the authorities and local media often call “terrorists” – has been a sensitive subject.

Russian television has covered the Ukrainian crisis in a negative light, frequently referring to the new Kiev government as a “fascist junta”, while international media has focused on civilian casualties and the use of cluster munitions in populated areas by both sides.

Source: Sakvarelidze to become Odesa Oblast’s top prosecutor
▻http://www.kyivpost.com/content/kyiv-post-plus/source-sakvarelidze-to-become-odesa-oblasts-top-prosecutor-397848.html

Deputy Prosecutor General Davit Sakvarelidze will become Odesa Oblast’s chief prosecutor, a source familiar with the situation told the Kyiv Post on Sept. 14.

At the same time, he will keep his position as a deputy prosecutor general, the source said. The source suggested that the reason for the move was that Odesa Oblast Governor Mikheil Saakashvili needed a trusted man to crack down on corruption.

The source is not authorized to speak publicly and requested anonymity. Artem Demartino, a spokesman for the Prosecutor General’s Office, and Sakvarelidze’s spokesperson had no comment.

Sakvarelidze, who was Georgia’s first deputy prosecutor general from 2009 to 2012, is seen as close to Saakashvili, the ex-Georgian president. Saakashvili has announced a plan to crack down on corruption in Odesa Oblast, while Sakvarelidze launched an anti-corruption campaign at the Prosecutor General’s Office by arresting two top prosecutors in July.

The source also said that Sakvarelidze would “still be responsible for the open competition for the positions of top local prosecutors.”

Sakvarelidze oversees a reform of the Prosecutor General’s Office that envisages organizing a transparent and competitive hiring process for prosecutors. The source added that Sakvarelidze was still set to continue changing staff and work guidelines for the Prosecutor General’s Office and top regional prosecutors during the second stage of prosecutorial reform scheduled for next year.

S​aakashvili says Ukraine run by ’shadow’ oligarchic government
▻http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/s-aakashvili-says-ukraine-run-by-shadow-oligarchic-government-397787.html

Ukraine is de facto run by a “shadow government” whose strings are pulled by oligarchs behind the scenes, Mikheil Saakashvili, ex-president of Georgia and governor of Odesa Oblast, said on Sept. 12 at the Yalta European Strategy forum in Kyiv.

“We certainly have the reality of some kind of shadow, parallel government,” he said. “You can describe Ukraine as a joint-stock company owned by oligarchs… Every oligarch owns his own judges, prosecutors and paramilitary units.”
[…]
In an apparent reference to the Right Sector and other nationalist groups, Saakashvili said that, as a result of a lack of reform, paramilitary groups were emerging to fill the void.

“This will create a further wave of chaos,” he said. “What we need to do is to speed up reform. It’s about whether Ukraine exists as a state or not.”

#Fact-checking #Saakashvili: Claims true – up to a point
▻http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/fact-checking-saakashvili-claims-true-up-to-a-point-397654.html

Odesa Oblast Governor Mikheil Saakashvili on Sept. 3 lashed out at Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk and the government he leads in an interview with Channel 5, owned by President Petro Poroshenko.

The former Georgian president accused the Cabinet of Ministers and Yatsenyuk personally of sabotaging reforms and lobbying for oligarchs’ interests.

In three more specific claims, Saakashvili accused the Cabinet of protecting the head of the State Aviation Service, whom he said had taken decisions in favor of billionaire Igor Kolomoisky’s Ukraine International Airlines. He then accused the government of blocking Economic Development and Trade Minister Aivaras Abromavicius’ attempts to dismiss the heads of two state enterprises. And last, he alleged the Cabinet had foiled his plans to reform Odesa’s notoriously corrupt customs service.

Yatsenyuk countered on Sept. 4 that Saakashvili’s accusations were unfounded and claimed that the Cabinet had approved the governor’s requests.

“We are all in one team here. I understand his emotions because he bears all the responsibility for Odesa Oblast,” Yatsenyuk said. “But it is inappropriate for an ex-president to bring unfounded charges against the government.”

The Kyiv Post decided to dig deeper into four of Saakashvili’s claims, and see if there was any substance to them.

Claim 1: The Yatsenyuk Cabinet has protected the head of the State Aviation Service.
[…]
The Verdict: True

Claim 2: The Cabinet is blocking attempts to dismiss the heads of some state enterprises.
[…]
The Verdict: True – technically. But while the head of at least one enterprise is indeed still in his job, the Kyiv Post couldn’t find proof that the reason was because of cronyism among Yatsenyuk’s political allies.

Claim 3: The Yatsenyuk Cabinet is foiling Saakashvili’s plans to reform Odesa’s customs service.
[…]
The Verdict: Somewhat true. While not sabotaging the plan per se, the Cabinet appears to be meddling by moving the goalposts, making it more difficult for the reform to achieve its aims.

Claim 4: Yatsenyuk is in the thrall of the nation’s biggest oligarchs.
[…]
The Verdict: Not proven. Direct ties between Ukraine’s oligarchs and politicians are hard to pin down.

Justice Ministry’s Vyshnevsky says Ukraine bar association stalling judicial reform
▻http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/justice-ministrys-vyshnevsky-says-ukraine-bar-association-stalling-judicia

The Ukrainian National Bar Association doesn’t take well to criticism.

Andriy Vyshnevsky, the director of the Ukrainian Justice Ministry’s Coordination Center for Legal Aid Provision, found that out after delivering a stinging rebuke to the bar at a judicial conference on June 15.

He’s now facing a one-year suspension because his statements allegedly impaired the dignity and reputation of the bar, and violated its code of ethics. Ukraine’s bar association didn’t respond to numerous requests for interviews since the Kyiv Post initiated contact with the professional body on July 17.

“The poor state of Ukraine’s bar is the main risk to the system of free legal aid,” Vyshnevsky said at the conference. “This concerns the low ethical standards and professionalism of the bar. This concerns attorneys being a main link in corruption. This concerns the Ukrainian National Bar Association’s being unwilling to counter the phenomenon of so-called militsia advokats (attorneys biased in favor of investigators) or at least to give a legal assessment to it… Reform of the bar is urgent… The current state of the bar may hamper judicial reform.”

Ukraine a popular location for shooting music videos for world famous bands
▻http://www.kyivpost.com/guide/music/ukraine-a-popular-location-for-shooting-music-videos-for-world-famous-band

War in the east and economic turmoil notwithstanding, Ukraine seems to be becoming a popular location for the filming of music videos, with directors attracted not only by the country’s spectacular scenery and interesting culture, but flexible labor and cheap prices.

For instance, Grammy-winning British band Mumford and Sons recently posted a video for their song “Ditmas” on their Facebook page in which a Ukrainian Cossack in traditional dress and hairstyle is the main character. Footage of the Cossack breaking and riding a horse is interlaced with shots of the band performing their song.

▻https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOBPiOdyGEM

(note : le débourrage est particulièrement peu crédible…)

Another British indie-rock band, Foals, have also shot a music video in Ukraine. The video for the band’s song “What Went Down” was filmed at two locations – the Kyiv Reservoir and an almost post-apocalyptic-looking site in Kyiv’s Troeschina district.

Viktor Ruzenko, a director at the Vitj video production studio in Kyiv, says foreigners are picking Ukraine as a location for their video shoots for many reasons.

“Firstly, it’s much cheaper,” Ruzenko told the Kyiv Post. “Something that costs $7,000 in the United States, for example, can be filmed here in Ukraine for $3,000. And the result is in no way inferior.”

The shooting process in Ukraine is also easier than it is in the United States, Ruzenko said.

“Here people will work without any complaints for 16 hours, when the official working shift is 12 hours. People broad appreciate human resources more than we do (in Ukraine).”

Inside the corrupt world of Ukraine’s railway monopoly
▻http://www.kyivpost.com/content/business/inside-the-corrupt-world-of-ukraines-railway-monopoly-394166.html

Ukrzaliznytsia has a long history of serving as a corruption hub. For years multiple scams existed at all levels, ranging from trainmen smuggling cigarettes to executives using company assets for their personal benefit and skimming off money in procurement schemes.

“Ukrzaliznitsia has become one of the most corrupt entities of Ukraine,” Olena Scherban, lawyer at the Anticorruption Action Center told the Kyiv Post.

Since 2000, Ukrzaliznytsia has been buying electricity from private enterprises at prices that are 22 percent above market levels, according to the Interior Ministry. Although the railway company is required by law to purchase electricity from state-run Energorynok, it has been buying it from privately owned intermediary companies at marked-up prices, authorities say, involving the state energy and utilities regulator.

Cosmetic Corruption Fight
▻http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/cosmetic-corruption-fight-393119.html

This week’s sting operation, during which two high-ranking prosecutors were arrested on suspicion of bribery with some $500,000 in valuables being found at their homes and offices, was a flamboyant display of law enforcement. It was meant to publicly show that authorities mean business in eradicating the scourge of corruption.

Yet it was nothing more than a cheap spectacle, anti-corruption activists, political scientists and current and former lawmakers told the Kyiv Post.

Scenes of the dramatic bust were broadcast on TV screens across the nation. Masked men were shown breaking into a safe to reveal diamonds and jewels, stacks of cash and a Kalashnikov rifle. Then the “bad guys” were marched out to face justice.

Anyone familiar with recent Ukrainian history has seen such images before. Experts and lawmakers alike are convinced that these arrests are just the latest fabrication in a Potemkin village of empty crackdowns.

Et donc, libération d’un des deux accusés arrêtés spectaculairement il y a 3 jours ▻http://seenthis.net/messages/387695

l’article mentionne aussi l’arrestation spectaculaire de Bochkovsky (ici ▻http://seenthis.net/messages/354782 (arrestation à grand spectacle et là ▻http://seenthis.net/messages/355645 (refus de mandat d’arrêt et libération)

Shell pulls out of east Ukraine gas exploration project
▻http://www.kyivpost.com/content/business/shell-pulls-out-of-east-ukraine-gas-exploration-project-390803.html

Ukraine’s government received a “Notice of Withdrawal” to abandon a potential $10 billion gas exploration project from Royal Dutch Shell, the Financial Times reported citing “sources familiar with the situation.”

Citing “circumstances beyond” the company’s control, a shell spokesman told the Kyiv Post in an e-mailed statement that it has “been prevented from performing its commitments under (the) Yuzivska production sharing agreement” in war-torn eastern Ukraine.

Ukrainian Defense Ministry says OSCE exaggerates fighting figures
▻http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/ukrainian-defense-ministry-says-osce-inflating-fighting-figures-387535.htm

Ukraine’s Defense Ministry accused international monitors of grossly inflating figures for the number of times the military on April 26 fired on combined Russian-separatist forces near the village of Shyrokyne in Donetsk Oblast.

By doing so, monitors from the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe had spread “unreliable and incomplete information” on the war in eastern Ukraine, where a cease-fire has never taken hold and is violated by both sides on an almost daily basis, according to an online statement posted on April 29.

The ministry had taken issue with a report released on April 27 in which the OSCE stated that Ukrainian forces had fired on combined Russian-separatist forces a total of 413 times a day earlier – a claim which the ministry denies.

Irina Gudyma, senior press assistant to the mission, told the Kyiv Post the group “would stick by what we have in the report.”
(…)
The international group has also faced a flurry of accusations that Russian members feed information to the insurgents, and both Ukrainian soldiers and insurgents alike have expressed distrust of the group, saying their positions always end up coming under attack after visits by the monitors.

The accusations have repeatedly been denied by the group, with Bociurkiw reassuring that all members are vetted before joining the special monitoring mission.

During recent patrols of Shyrokyne, the deputy head of the special monitoring mission, Alexander Hug, told the Kyiv Post that both sides in the conflict were guilty of breaking the ceasefire, and that the organization had hard evidence of this.

At a briefing in Kyiv on April 30, Hug reiterated that, saying “both sides have used weapons that were meant to be removed in accordance with the Minsk agreements.”

Du point de vue ukrainien, il est clair que les déclarations d’Alexander Hug ne peuvent résulter que de provocations russes…

Prosecutor’s claim of receiving offer of $10 million monthly bribe ignites controversy
▻http://www.kyivpost.com/content/kyiv-post-plus/prosecutors-claim-of-receiving-offer-of-10-million-monthly-bribe-ignites-c

A top prosecutor’s statement that he had been offered a $10 million per month bribe has triggered a public debate on why the bribe giver was not identified or arrested.

Deputy Prosecutor General David Sakvarelidze, who says he was offered the bribe, told the Kyiv Post on April 20 that the incident would be investigated.

He said he could not comment further now.

Sakvarelidze says that Ukraine’s current Criminal Procedure Code makes it difficult to detain and prosecute the suspect but critics say he had the authority to arrest him when the alleged crime was committed.

Top investigator says Interpol’s inaction thwarts cases against Yanukovych allies
▻http://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/top-investigator-says-interpols-inaction-thwarts-cases-against-yanukovych-

http://www.kyivpost.com/media/images/2015/04/17/p19j265gh2ukf1mm2ss08stmps4/original_big.jpg

Ukrainian authorities cannot try many of former President Viktor Yanukovych’s allies due to Interpol’s refusal to put them on a wanted list and technicalities in Ukraine’s law on trials in absentia, Serhiy Horbatiuk, the prosecutor in charge of the investigations, told the Kyiv Post.

C’est la faute d’Interpol…

Prosecutors insist a major impediment is Interpol’s refusal to put suspects in the EuroMaidan murder cases on an international wanted list because the international law enforcement agency believes the investigations to be politically motivated – a claim dismissed by EuroMaidan supporters. Interpol declined to comment.

On rappelera juste qu’Interpol se contente simplement de demander à l’Ukraine de fournir des preuves… et ne voit rien venir.

Russian fighter’s confession of killing prisoners might become evidence of war crimes (AUDIO)
▻http://www.kyivpost.com/content/kyiv-post-plus/kremlin-backed-fighters-confession-of-killing-prisoners-might-become-evide

A Russian fighter’s confession that he killed 15 Ukrainian prisoners of war may be considered evidence of war crimes in court if the authenticity of the recording is confirmed, human rights and legal experts say.

But these alleged crimes are unlikely to be considered crimes against humanity, and it would also be difficult to send them to the International Criminal Court.

The statement was made by Arseniy Pavlov, better known by his nom-de-guerre Motorola, in a telephone conversation with the Kyiv Post on April 3. Motorola, head of the Kremlin-backed Sparta Battalion, said that he would not comment on presumed eyewitnesses’ testimony that he had murdered Ukrainian prisoner of war Ihor Branovytsky on Jan. 21.

“I don’t give a f**** about what I am accused of, believe it or not,” Motorola said. “I shot 15 prisoners dead. I don’t give a f****. No comment. I kill if I want to. I don’t if I don’t.”
(…)
[Vasil] Vovk [head of the State Security Service’s main investigative department] said that the Branovytsky case could be sent to the Hague-based International Criminal Court.

However, there are obstacles to transferring any cases against Motorola to the Hague. So far, Ukraine has not ratified the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, which recognizes the court’s jurisdiction in specific countries.

On Feb. 4, the Verkhovna Rada passed a resolution recognizing the jurisdiction of the Hague court for war crimes committed by Russia and Kremlin-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine from Feb. 20, 2014 until Feb. 4, 2015.

However, the president has not yet formally sent the resolution to the Hague, Mazur said. Some analysts have also argued that Ukrainian authorities had no right to partially recognize the Hague court’s jurisdiction and must do it completely by ratifying the Rome Statute.

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

Yarema dismissed as top prosecutor, official announcement pending
▻http://www.kyivpost.com/content/kyiv-post-plus/yarema-dismissed-as-top-prosecutor-official-announcement-pending-380057.ht

Ukraine has had a new acting prosecutor since Feb. 8, even though there has been no formal announcement of resignation of Vitaly Yarema, a source at the Kyiv prosecutor’s office told the Kyiv Post on Feb. 9.

Deputy Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin was appointed acting prosecutor general by President Petro Poroshenko over the weekend, the source said. “You’ve seen the recent media coverage of Yarema,” the source said, commenting on the reasons for the resignation. “This decision has been in the making for some time.”

Yarema, who was appointed top prosecutor in June, has been severely criticized for the lack of progress in high-profile criminal cases against former President Viktor Yanukovych and his allies. Yarema also came under fire for alleged corruption and nepotism in his office.

Shokin has been a deputy prosecutor general since June and had occupied the same position in 2002-2003 and in 2004-2007. Shokin, who could not been reached for comment, is believed to be close to Poroshenko and has also been accused of ties to businessman Oleksiy Chebotaryov, an ally of Yanukovych. Like Yarema, he has been blamed for stalling high-profile investigations against Yanukovych’s entourage.

Bref, Yarema, contesté depuis plusieurs mois, est viré parce que jugé inefficace contre Ianoukovitch. Il est remplacé par son adjoint. Qui a déjà été accusé de ne pas poursuivre avec énergie les amis de Ianoukovitch.

Le prochain dans 6 mois…