Lack of freedom in Ukraine
Written declaration
No.
482
| Doc. 12649
| 13 October 2011
- Signatories:
- Mr Pieter OMTZIGT,
Netherlands, EPP/CD ; Mr Denis BADRÉ,
France, ALDE ; Ms Josette DURRIEU,
France, SOC ; Ms Lydie ERR,
Luxembourg, SOC ; Mr Marco GATTI,
San Marino ; Mr Valeriu GHILETCHI,
Republic of Moldova, EPP/CD ; Ms Sylvi GRAHAM,
Norway, EPP/CD ; Mr Andreas GROSS,
Switzerland, SOC ; Ms Karin HAKL,
Austria, EPP/CD ; Mr Margus HANSON,
Estonia, ALDE ; Mr Norbert HAUPERT,
Luxembourg, EPP/CD ; Mr Andres HERKEL,
Estonia, EPP/CD ; Ms Elvira KOVÁCS,
Serbia, EPP/CD ; Mr Dariusz LIPIŃSKI,
Poland, EPP/CD ; Mr Alejandro MUÑOZ-ALONSO,
Spain, EPP/CD ; Mr Gebhard NEGELE,
Liechtenstein, EPP/CD ; Mr Fritz NEUGEBAUER,
Austria, EPP/CD ; Ms Liliana PALIHOVICI,
Republic of Moldova, EPP/CD ; Ms Lajla PERNASKA,
Albania, EPP/CD ; Ms Zaruhi POSTANJYAN,
Armenia, EPP/CD ; Mr Giacomo SANTINI,
Italy, EPP/CD ; Mr Kimmo SASI,
Finland, EPP/CD ; Mr Leander SCHÄDLER,
Liechtenstein, EPP/CD ; Ms Ingjerd SCHOU,
Norway, EPP/CD ; Mr Latchezar TOSHEV,
Bulgaria, EPP/CD ; Ms Arenca TRASHANI,
Albania, EPP/CD ; Mr Egidijus VAREIKIS,
Lithuania, EPP/CD ; Mr Miltiadis VARVITSIOTIS,
Greece, EPP/CD ; Mr Luca VOLONTÈ,
Italy, EPP/CD ; Ms Gisela WURM,
Austria, SOC
- Thesaurus
This written declaration does not reflect the position of the Assembly; only of those members that have signed it. It will not be considered further by the Assembly.
We express our deep concern regarding the harassment of civil
society and political activists by the secret services of the Republic
of Ukraine.
We stress the need for reform of the security services, especially
the abolition of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU)’s right to
conduct normal criminal investigations, referred to in Assembly Resolution 1755 (2010).
The detention of a large number of opposition politicians,
former members of government, on essentially political charges is
unacceptable: past legal policy decisions, irrespective of their
quality, are de facto criminalised. The investigation of policy
decisions is strictly the prerogative of parliament.
In a democratic society, both government and opposition should
be free to express themselves nationally and internationally. Travel
restrictions imposed on a large number of major opposition figures
based on questionably charges is unacceptable in a genuinely democratic
society.
The current Ukrainian Presidency of the Committee of Ministers
makes it incumbant upon Ukraine to lead by example in meeting the
highest standards. If this were the case, leading opposition politicians
like Mrs Yulia Timochenko should be free to travel to Strasbourg
for the Assembly Session.
We call upon the Monitoring Committee rapporteurs to prioritise
these issues during their upcoming visit and to report back to the
Assembly.
