Torture and
Kangaroo Court for Political Prisoners in Ukraine
In December 2002 ten young internationalists
(18-35) were arrested, tortured and thrown into the jail in the city of
Odessa. Five of them are Ukrainian citizens: A. Yakovenko, B. Zinchenko,
O. Alekseev, S. Berdiugin, A. Gerasimov. Four Russian citizens: I.
Danilov, A. Plevo, I. Romanov, A. Smirnov. One Moldova citizen: E.
Semenov.
They were accused in the attempt
to organize the armed rebellion against the Ukrainian government of Kuchma.
In the dungeons of Nikolaev and Odessa the police and Secret Service tortured
them to obtain confession. In case of Igor Danilov, the interrogators
drove needles under his finger nails and repeatedly smashed his head against
the wall. But they were not able to break the revolutionary.
They had more success with some of the younger prisoners.
These brave young people do not deny
the accusations, charging the regime in the GENOCIDE OF THE WHOLE
NATION. They struggled openly for the restoration of the Soviet Union ,
for the dignity of their nation.
Their youth started with the “School
of Interrogation”, with imprisonment and tortures.
In the result, some of them have broken
ribs and bones and do not receive proper medical help.
This is how they entered the worldwide
multi-national army of political prisoners, whose sufferings are usually
kept from the public eyes.
The case of 10 Komsomol members
is closed, as they learned recently.They have learned that their trial
is going to be held “behind the closed doors”.
Left.Ru
appeals to progressive people and organizations to demand from the Ukrainian
authorities fair open trial for the accused and impartial investigation
of the brutal and illegal methods that were used to extract forced confessions
from these young people.
Following is the short letter written
from the prison by Evgeny Semenov, one of the prisoners:
“ Dear Comrades!
I have very short time. I’ll
be very brief.
My name is Semenov, Evgeny. Here,
in the Odessa's prison, with me there are my NINE comrades, arrested
and tortured systematically throughout 6 months of the interrogation .Now
our case is closed and the trial begins sometime in the fall. In order
to cover up the tortures that we were subjected to, the Ukrainian Department
of Security plans to keep our trial in undisclosed location, with
no defense lawyers for us and without the presence of public, let
alone any journalist or observer.
If that is the case, we will go on
the hunger strike at the very opening of the court’s hearing.
With the death of any of us (our health
has grossly deteriorated) there is a hope that some of our comrades
will be able to exercise their constitutional right for the open
hearing.
We have sent our mutual appeal to The
Rada ( the Parliament of Ukraine) and to The Human Rights Secretary, describing
murderous interrogations during the time of our detention.
We are accused in crimes committed
against the currently ruling Government of Ukraine.
On our part, we accuse the governing
bourgeoisie in the GENOCIDE COMMITED AGAINST THEIR OWN PEOPLE.
The trial MUST BE HELD OPENLY
for there is different degree of the involvement in our activity
between our 10 comrades and everyone
must be judged by the Court according to his involvement.
Yes! We ACCUSE THIS REGIME IN
THE WORST CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY!
WE WANT TO STOP THEM BEFORE
THEIR POLICY OF GENOCIDE THREATENS THE VERY EXISTENCE OF OUR
NATION!
WE WILL FIGHT TILL OUR FATHERLAND
- THAT IS THE SOVIET UNION - WILL BE FREE AGAIN!
And if we have to die for that
we want to be remembered as we say now:
WE WERE COMMUNISTS, WE ARE COMMUNISTS
AND WE WILL DIE UNBENDED!
COMRADES, REVENGE US if we never come
out of these torture chambers! Don’t let them catch you or
to silence your voice!
Our address: Odessa’s Central Prison
And here are our names:
Yakovenko A.; Zinchenko B.;
Alexseev O.; Berlugin S.; Gerasimov A. – citizens of Ukraine
Danilov E.; Plevo A.; Romanov E.;
Smirnov A. – Russian citizens
Semenov E, - citizen of Molodavia
Farewell, comrades!
--------------------------------------
These are some of the addresses where you could call or send the
letters of protest :
CENTRAL PROSECUTION of UKRAINE
MSP 01601
Kiev –11 Risnizka Street 13/15
Tel: (38-044) 291 –2701 Fax: (38-044) 290 – 2603
SUPREME COURT of UKRAINE:
E-mail: supcourt@scourt.gov.ua
PRESIDENT of UKRAINE L.D. KUCHMA
Kiev - 220
Bankova Street 11
Tel: (38-044) 291- 5333
www.president.gov.ua/feedback/
THE MINISTRY CABINET of UKRAINE
01008, Kiev-8, Grushevskogo street 12/2.
Yanukovich Viktor Fedorovich
------------------------------------------
Tel: (38-044) 226-32-63, (38-044) 293-16-63 Fax: (38-044) 293-21-71
UKRAINIAN PARLAMENT “RADA”
Kiev- 008
Grushnevskogo Street N 5
Litvin V.M.
Tel: (38-044) 254 – 0890
The suggested text for the letter:
“ Dear …
The trial of 10 young Ukrainian and Russian activists by the Ukrainian
Secret Serves in the December of 2002 is getting wide international attention
despite the Government’s decision to hold it hidden from the public scrutiny.
The world is learning once more about inhuman methods used by another government,
in this case it’s of Ukraine, for the implementing the Democracy “by any
means possible” .
Tortures of the prisoners, “the secret trails” ( with no defense provided),
murders and consequent cover ups of “uncounted and unnamed prisoners”,
all of it gradually unveils the frightening inhuman face of the dictatorial
regime which had never had anything to do with the façade that painted
as “the democracy”. But, to the deepest regrets, those methods becomes
the sign of the troubled times we are facing now.
The International Action Center in New York, founded by the former
Attorney General of USA Ramsey Clark, long time the honorable defender
of the oppressed humanity, recently acknowledged that the new-born democratic
country of Ukraine is not the exception and the “secret” interrogations
used by the US military in 120 countries, occupied nowadays by US Army,
the Ukrainian Government finds appropriate for the establishment of the
democracy inside the country.
Being well informed about the inhuman condition of the political prisoners
in so many countries (including the USA), The International Action Center
calls for the attention of all progressive forces in the world to come
to the defense of 10 Ukrainian activists, locked up in the in the Central
Prison of city of Odessa ( Ukraine), waiting for the trail that the Government
of Ukraine is going to hold “ in secret”. It is obviously that 6 months
of tortures, imposed on the 10 young people during the interrogations,
might shed the dark light on the new Ukrainian “democracy” and to keep
it hidden from public eyes appears necessary.
International Action Center PROTESTS from the “secrecy” of this trail
and appeals to the Government of Ukraine with the request to investigate
the violations of the human rights of 10 young activists that are taking
a place now, under the watch of the
President L.D. Kuchma.
OPEN DOORS TO THE COURT!
PEOPLE OF UKRAINE MUST KNOW WHERE THEIR COUNTRY STANDS!
Signed
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