… plus “dekuchmization” of the whole country

February 2, 2005.

    *** Today human rights activists discussed in UNIAN the fairness and freedom at election in Ukraine and told about their expectations from new government. Moral purification was the main thing for them and only after that legal means for protecting human rights and freedoms.
    
    Yevgeniy Zakharov, head of the board of Ukrainian Human Rights Helsinki Union (Kyiv), Aaron Rhodes, executive director of International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (Vienna), Volodymyr Yavorskyy, executive director of Ukrainian Human Rights Helsinki Union (Kyiv),
    
    Andrzej Rzeplinski, Head of the Department of Criminology and Criminal Police at the Faculty of Applied Sciences and Resocialization of the University Warsaw member of the board of Helsinki Foundation (Warsaw) and Lyudmila Alyekseyeva from Moscow Helsinki Group voiced several theses regarding future:
    
    “Applying immediate means for rejection of immoral system of state-society relations created by Kuchma regime must be one of the first tasks of newly elected President. Morality decay is one of the main reasons that caused orange revolution. Ukraine needs the process that is similar to denazification in Germany after the WW2 and decommunization in some post-communist countries of Central Europe and Baltic region at the beginning of 90th. President Kuchma is the embodiment of the state system that is based on rule of state principles and human rights and main freedoms violations.
    
    Securing the independence of judicial power, establishing transparent and open executive power, law-enforcement bodies’ reform and development of free from national and local state bodies institutions are the most vital within the frame of “dekuchminization”.
    
    Judicial power is the main guaranty of the rule of law state and observance of the human rights and main freedoms. There is need in increasing the authority of the courts and establishing real independence for judicial power.
    
    Real steps for building open and transparent state power should be made, particularly by providing the freedom of information and freedom of expression. Especially, the considerable amount of illegally classified secret acts of executive power bodies that contain the information about corruption and illegal activity of officials should be taking off the security list.
    
    Activity of the law-enforcement bodies should be reformed by establishing civic independent control of their activity including parliamentary control. Also the means for immediate termination of torture and other illegal investigation methods should be applied.
    
    Further development of the civic society institutions should be provided by securing the right to the freedom of association and peaceful assembly.”
    
    What about election? It’s gone and this election can be considered free, fair and complying with the international human rights standards. Regarding the election violations that occurred during the third stage of the presidential elections, voting and ballot counting didn’t influence fundamentally the election results. According to Yevgen Zakharov statements about system and harsh violations of human rights are groundless.
    
    Lyudmila Alexeyeva whished good luck to Ukraine and called not give a chance to new administration to strip the freedoms and rights the people fought for on the streets.
    
    So we’d better listen to this advice…
    
    Yaroslav Hordiyevych
    
    RUPOR