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Non-HDR Photo further down the street from the previous photo. Still on Dauphin Street with the Trustmark and RSA buildings in the background. A lot of color in downtown Mobile, Alabama, USA.
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
The front of the extensive playing field, facing Bilston Road. It is here that the new RSA buildings have been constructed.
This bridge connects the two RSA buildings at Bedford, MA, USA. The one on the left is 176 Middlesex Turnpike. The one on the right is 174 Middlesex Turnpike.
WHITE BOOK ON VIOLATIONS OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE RULE OF LAW IN UKRAINE (NOVEMBER 2013 — MARCH 2014)
Introduction
This study covers the period from the end of November 2013 to the end of March
2014 and deals with the situation with human rights and the rule of law that emerged
in Ukraine as a result of a violent seizure of power and unconstitutional coup.
As a factual basis, a careful monitoring of Ukrainian, Russian and some Western
media reports was conducted, covering statements and announcements made by
the leaders of the “new government” of Ukraine and their supporters, numerous
eyewitness accounts, including those posted on the Internet, as well as records
based on observations and interviews with people on the scene, and those
collected by non-governmental organization The Foundation for Researching
Problems in Democracy, and the Moscow Bureau for Human Rights.
Excerpts from the basic international documents on human rights whose universal
regulations and standards have been violated in Ukraine during the indicated period
precede each section of this study.
We do not claim to report exhaustively in this White Book all tragic events that took
place in Ukraine. Nonetheless, the present list of the most flagrant violations of
fundamental international norms of human rights and the rule of law committed
in this country, by ultranationalist, neo-Nazi, and extremist forces which have
monopolized the Euromaidan protests, far from being exhaustive, gives enough
grounds to claim that such violations were widespread.
The essential task of this White Book is to focus on facts to which the international
community and key international human rights bodies, as well as relevant nongovernmental
organizations have not shown proper and impartial attention.
The history of the twentieth century has given tragic lessons which would be
irresponsible and also at times just unlawful to ignore. The White Book is a signal
to those who have forgotten this or pretend to forget. Those who cynically, in
pursuit of their own selfish interests and under the guise of good intentions and
pseudo-democratic demagogy, are plunging a multimillion multi-ethnic Ukrainian
population into extremism, lawlessness, and a deep crisis of national identity.
The onslaught of racism, xenophobia, ethnic intolerance, the glorification of the
Nazis and their Banderite sycophants should be brought to a speedy end through
the united efforts of the Ukrainian people and the international community. The
alternative is fraught with so devastating consequences for peace, stability, and
democratic development in Europe, that it is absolutely necessary to prevent
further escalation of this situation.
Part 1: Violations of the right to life, violations of public order and safety, the use of torture, inhuman treatment
and committed iniquity
November 24, 2013. The first clashes between the police and demonstrators
occurred in Kiev1. After the opposition rally entitled For a European Ukraine, a
portion of the demonstrators (mostly supporters of the nationalist All-Ukrainian
Union (AAU) Svoboda) tried to break into the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine
building’s territory and block the passage for government vehicles. Aggressive
demonstrators attacked the police and broke a barrier. The mob attacked the law
enforcement officers with firecrackers. The police retaliated, using tear gas to stop
the protestors’ aggression.
November 26–27, 2013. Activists from several right-wing groups, including the
Stepan Bandera All-Ukrainian Organization Trizub (Trident) movement, the Socio-
National Assembly/Patriot of Ukraine (SNA/PU), the Ukrainian National Assembly
(UNA) party, the Bilyi Molot (White Hammer) group, as well as football fans,
organized the informal Pravyi Sektor (Right Sector) association at Euromaidan.
Under this «brand», radical nationalist activists were further mobilized to participate
in the Euromaidan rebellion, including participating in violent confrontations with
law enforcement officers.
November 30, 2013. Right-wing activists primarily associated with Pravyi Sektor,
organized trainings on tactics for violent confrontation with law enforcement
officials, including exercising of group actions using available tools as melee
weapons. Formation of the so-called Samoobrana maidana (Maidan Self-Defense)
groups began.
December 1. During a mass demonstration in Kiev, activists of radical nationalist
groups, joined by football hooligans, some radical activists in AUU Svoboda, and
protesting youth, carried out a series of illegal actions.
Right-wing radicals were involved in the violent seizure of Kiev city administration
buildings and the House of Trade Unions, as well as in clashes with the police.
Supporters of Pravyi Sektor entrenched themselves on the fifth floor of the House
of Trade Unions. Party activists in AUU Svoboda actually took control of the Kiev City
State Administration building. The headquarters for one of the most radical groups
of protesters, the neo-Nazi youth group Sich/C14, were located in this building.
(The group, headed by Evgeny Karas, leans towards AUU Svoboda). The apogee of
violence against the legitimate authorities, occurring on December 1, 2013, was an
attempt to break through the Interior Ministry troops and police officer cordon on
On November 21, 2013 in Kiev, protests under the «Euromaidan» title began. They were organized
by a number of opposition parties that disagreed with the decision of the Government of Ukraine to
suspend the signing of the Association Agreement with the European Union.
White book on violations of human rights
and the rule of law in Ukraine
Bankovaya street in Kiev (the so-called «assault on the Presidential Administration
of Ukraine»).
Same evening, activists of right-wing groups, including members of AUU Svoboda,
attempted to vandalize the monument to Lenin on Shevchenko Boulevard, provoking
a clash with members of the Special Forces.
December 2, 2013. The first attempts were made at the violent seizure of regional
state administration (RSA) buildings in Western Ukraine, including Ivano-Frankivsk
(the seizure by AUU Svoboda militants failed) and Volyn (seizure by supporters of
the AUU Batkivshchyna (Fatherland) movement was repulsed by police).
December 8, 2013. A group of extremists demolished and destroyed the
monument to Lenin on Shevchenko Boulevard in Kiev. Responsibility for this act of
vandalism was claimed by AUU Svoboda, which is represented in the Parliament.
December 10, 2013. Opponents of the current government put up a fierce
resistance to law enforcement officers who were trying to comply with the decision
of the Shevchenko district court of Kiev on the Prohibition of blocking government
buildings and obstructing the governmental activity. Euromaidan supporters
barricaded themselves inside the Kiev city state administration building and
deliberately provoked the police to use force by throwing stones from the windows
at law enforcement and pouring water over them using fire hoses. Due to the gravity
of the situation, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine was forced to withdraw the
Special Forces from the captured building.
December 11, 2013. Euromaidan protestors set up barricades around the
perimeter of Maidan and Khreschatyk Boulevard and announced the resumption of
picketing the government quarter.
January 19–25, 2014. Pravyi Sektor militants engaged in violent clashes with
security forces on Grushevski St. Over 300 people (most of them police officers)
were injured.
January 22, 2014. Brody State Administration in Lviv Oblast was violently taken
over by AUU Svoboda forces.
January 23, 2014. Lviv, Ternopil and Rivne Regional State Administrations were
violently taken over by AUU Svoboda forces.
January 24, 2014. In the Ukraine regions, the formation of the so-called «People’s
Self-Defense groups» and the so-called «People’s Councils» began under the
supervision of AUU Svoboda. Preparations began for carrying out the rebellion and
Violations of the right to life, violations of public order and safety,
the use of torture, inhuman treatment and committed iniquity
seizure of power in Kiev, as well as fundraising and the stockpiling of ammunition
for rioters on Maidan.
January 24–26, 2014. Forcible takeovers of the regional administration
buildings in Sumy, Zhytomyr, Poltava, Zaporozhye, Dnepropetrovsk, Uzhgorod
were attempted.
January 25, 2014. Activists of the radical movement Obschee Delo (Common
Cause) attempted to seize Ministry of Energy and Coal Industry of Ukraine premises.
January 25, 2014. Activists of the radical movement Obshee Delo seized the the
Ministry of Justice of Ukraine.
January 27, 2014. The opponents of the current government seized the
buildings of regional administrations in all areas of Western Ukraine, except for the
Transcarpathian region.
February 14, 2014. Party of Regions’ deputy A.Herman’s Lviv house was set on fire.
February 18, 2014. Pravyi Sektor militants forcibly took over the headquarters
of the Party of Regions in Kiev. Two men were brutally murdered. One was forcibly
locked in the basement, hit by a «Molotov cocktail» and died of suffocation and
burns. The other’s head was smashed in and he was thrown down a flight of stairs.
Females who were present in the building were stripped half-naked, their backs
were painted with symbols and slogans, and then they were kicked out into the
street. D. Svyatash, Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian Supreme Council) deputy for the
Party of Regions, was severely beaten.
February 18, 2014. Supporters of Euromaidan attempted to capture the Interior
Ministry and Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) buildings in Ternopil and Ivano-
Frankivsk regions, in order to appropriate weapons.
February 18–19, 2014. A number of buildings in the center of Kiev (among them,
the Ukrainian Ministry of Health, Central House of Officers, House of Trade Unions)
were burned and destroyed. Extremists seized the building of the conservatory
(where the headquarters of the «Euro Revolution» was established), the National
Council for Television and Radio Broadcasting of Ukraine, the Central Post Office of
the capital, and the hotel «Ukraine».
18–21 February 2014. Large-scale street riots in Kiev resumed, which resulted,
according to the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, in the killing of 77 people (including
16 law enforcement officers), with more than a thousand injured.
White book on violations of human rights
and the rule of law in Ukraine
February 18–19, 2014. A group of radicals seized the building of the Lviv regional
state administration overnight. Riots were staged in the Lviv region Ministry of
Internal Affairs (MIA) building, in the Lviv oblast District Attorney’s Office, and at
the Lviv region Office of Security Services (USBU) of Ukraine. After the riots at the
MIA and USBU buildings, the law enforcement officers who were forced out of the
building were stripped of their epaulets, disrobed of their uniforms, all of which was
thrown into a bonfire that was started near the building’s entrance.
Buildings of Military Unit . 4114 of Interior Troops of Ukraine in Lviv (barracks,
arsenal, and storeroom) were burned down. As a result, the officers and soldiers
of the unit completely lost their uniforms, ammunition, weapons, and a place to
sleep.
February 19, 2014. In Lviv, rioters captured the Interior Ministry and the four
central district police departments, including the armory district departments (up
to 1,300 firearms were stolen). A list of Party of Regions members with their mobile
phone numbers (approximately 150 people) was posted at the prosecutor’s office
building.
February 19, 2014. The so-called «People’s Self-Defense» activists established
roadblocks at the state and regional level, as well as at entrances to the major cities
of Western Ukraine.
February 19, 2014. The governor of the Volyn Regional State Administration
A. Bashkalenko was severely beaten and tortured publically in Lutsk. He was
handcuffed to the local Euromaidan stage and asked to sign a «voluntary»
resignation. After refusing, he was thrown on his knees, which caused him to smash
his forehead on the ground. Five liters of water were poured on him, and then he
was cuffed to the stage again. When that did not work, the Euromaidan activists
took the governor away in an unknown direction and sent a group of thugs to his
house to intimidate his family members.
February 19, 2014. Near the town of Korsun-Shevchenkovsky (Cherkassy region),
several buses with passengers, who were returning to Crimea from protests against
European integration at St. Michael’s Square in Kiev, were fired upon and stopped at
the barricades, where the flags of the UPA, the Udar (Strike) party and AUU Svoboda
were flying. The people, both men and women, were dragged out of the buses
through a «corridor» of militants who beat them with bats and entrenching shovels.
Then the passengers were knocked down in a heap on the roadside, doused with
gasoline, and threatened to be set on fire. According to witnesses, militants from
the crowd shouted: «Just wait, we’re going to come and get you in Crimea. We are
going to stab you and shoot you, that is, those of you who we haven’t already beaten
Violations of the right to life, violations of public order and safety,
the use of torture, inhuman treatment and committed iniquity
to a pulp and shot up yet». After that, many Crimeans were forced to take off their
shoes «for the needs of Maidan soldiers», and they were driven around the buses like
cattle and forced to pick up the broken glass. The humiliation and abuse continued
for several hours. There were casualties among the victims. Most of the buses were
burned. The local police, who arrived at the scene, chose not to intervene.
February 21, 2014. People’s Self-Defense activists fired at a bus with Belarusian
tourists who were traveling to Western Ukraine. As a result, the bus driver, a Russian
citizen, was hospitalized with a gunshot wound.
February 21, 2014. The President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych and the
leaders of the three opposition parties — Vladimir Klitschko (Udar), A. Yatsenyuk
(AUU Batkivshchyna), and O. Tyagnibok (AUU Svoboda) — signed an agreement
on resolving the crisis in Ukraine, mediated by the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of
Germany, Poland, and France, which included a return to the 2004 Constitution,
constitutional reform (to be carried out before September 2014), the organization
of early presidential elections no later than December 2014, the formation of a
national unity government, the end of opposition occupation of administrative and
public buildings, the surrender of illegal weapons, and the renunciation of the use
of force on both sides.
On the same day, when the parliamentary opposition leaders publically announced
on Maidan the conditions of signing the Agreement, a representative of the
so-called «Maidan Self-Defense» V. Parasyuk said that he and the rest of the Self-
Defense members were not satisfied with a document that agreed on gradual
political reforms. He demanded the immediate resignation of President Viktor
Yanukovych; otherwise Self-Defense was going to go to storm the Presidential
Administration and the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. This proclamation was met with
applause. Pravyi Sektor leader D. Yarosh stated that the Agreement showed no
clear commitment for the President resignation, the parliament’s dissolution, the
punishment of heads of security agencies and other parties who had carried out
«criminal orders». He called the agreement «another attempt to pull the wool over
the people’s eyes» and refused to implement it.
February 21–23, 2014. Euromaidan supporters in 18 Ukrainian cities (including
Dnepropetrovsk, Poltava, Chernigov, Kherson, Sumy and Zhytomyr) demolished
monuments to Lenin.
February 21, 2014. Representatives of Pravyi Sektor broke into the house of
B. Darchina, Mayor of Tismenitsya (Ivano-Frankivsk region) and searched it. They
were looking for some documents and the mayor himself, who managed to escape.
The next day B. Darchin sent in his resignation.
White book on violations of human rights
and the rule of law in Ukraine
February 22, 2014. A monument to a Soviet soldier was removed in a city of Stri
in the Lviv oblast.
February 22, 2014. Euromaidan activists succeed in capturing the government
district, which was abandoned by police officers, and they issued a number of new
demands, in particular, the immediate resignation of President Yanukovych.
February 22, 2014. The Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine V. Rybak
(Party of Regions) tendered his resignation due to illness and the need for
treatment (according to unofficial data, the reason for his departure became fear
for his safety). O. Turchynov (AUU Batkivshchyna) was elected the the new Speaker
of the Ukrainian parliament.
The first vice-speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, member of the Communist Party of
Ukraine (CPU) I. Kaletnik, also penned his resignation. It is significant to note that
the entire subsequent period was marked by massive intimidation of Verkhovna
Rada deputies from the ruling Party of Regions and the Communist Party members
by the supporters of Euromaidan.
February 22, 2014. A crowd of Euromaidan supporters caught Deputy from the
Party of Regions N. Shufrich leaving the Verkhovna Rada building of Ukraine. Only
the intervention of the Udar party leader V. Klichko, who appealed not to lynch
Shufrich, saved him.
February 22, 2014. Euromaidan supporters detained, illegally sentenced and
tortured the first secretary of the city committee of the Communist Party of Lviv
R. Vasilko. According to eyewitnesses, he had needles pushed under fingernails,
his right lung pierced, three ribs, nose, and facial bones broken. The rioters also
threatened to destroy his family. After the severe torture, R. Vasilko was taken to
hospital, where the threats continued. Eventually, Vasilko had to flee Ukraine with
the help of his relatives.
The central office the Communist Party newspaper in Kiev was sacked, as well
as the Kiev offices of the Municipal Committee of the Communist Party, and the
Pechersk and Sviatoshynskyi district committees of the Communist Party in Kiev.
Almost all the regional committees of the Communist Party were seriously
damaged, but especially the ones in Zhytomyr, Chernihiv, Sumy, Vinnytsia, Volyn,
Rivne oblast, and all district committees. The regional and city offices in Volyn and
Lutsk and many other party premises were taken over by illegal armed groups.
The Communist Party, remaining a legal parliamentary party, was actually forced to
shut down. Given the threat of deadly violence a large majority of the Communist
Party faction in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine moved to the Crimea or Russia.
Violations of the right to life, violations of public order and safety,
the use of torture, inhuman treatment and committed iniquity
The remaining few Communist Party MPs in Parliament protested against the
lawlessness in the country and did not participate in voting.
February 22, 2014. On a stage installed in Lviv’s central square, near the
monument to Taras Shevchenko, local nationalists forced Ukrainian Interior Ministry
«Berkut» Special Forces of Lviv to «get on [their] knees and beg for forgiveness for
participating in actions against Euromaidan in Kiev.
Similar incidences occurred in Ternopil, Ivano-Frankivsk and Lutsk.
February 23, 2014. The decision was made in the Verkhovna Rada to appoint
Speaker O. Turchynov as interim President of Ukraine for the period up to May 25,
2014. After that, the legitimate President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych, who was
forced to leave the country because of threats to his life and the lives of his family,
said during a press conference in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, on 28 February 2014,
that he was still the legitimate head of the Ukrainian state, elected by the free will
of its citizens, noting also that none of the conditions stipulated by the Constitution
of Ukraine on the early termination of Presidential powers (including resignation,
illness, death, or impeachment) were followed properly.
February 23, 2014. People's deputy O. Lyashko (leader of «the Radical Party
of Oleg Lyashko») introduced a draft decree in the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine,
banning the Communist Party of Ukraine and the Party of Regions. Commenting
on this, Communist Party leader Petro Symonenko said that such a move would be
a violation of the law, as the law clearly states that the Party can only be prohibited
by court decision.
February 23, 2014. Members of «Ptavy Sektor» imposed tributes on shops in Kiev,
stating that the money collected was «protection fees».
February 23, 2014. In Uzhgorod, Transcarpathian region, local activists of Pravyi
Sektor tied the regional administration head of customs S. Harchenko to a pole in
front of administration building. The activists threatened him with violence, and he
was forced to resign.
February 23, 2014. Volyn region district attorney staff turned to the acting
Prosecutor General of Ukraine with a request for protection, given that Pravyi Sekyor
militants forced them to resign from their posts, and in the case of disagreement,
they were threatened with firearms.
February 24, 2014. The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted the Resolution «On
Reaction to the Facts of Breach of Oath of a Judge by Judges of the Constitutional
Court of Ukraine.» The Resolution was provided for the early termination of office
White book on violations of human rights
and the rule of law in Ukraine
and dismissal, due to «breach of oath», of five Constitutional Court of Ukraine judges,
including the Chairman of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine. In addition, the
Acting Prosecutor General of Ukraine was instructed to open criminal proceedings
against all the judges who, in the opinion of People’s Deputies of Ukraine, were
guilty of passing the Constitutional Court of Ukraine order on September 30,
2010, No. 20-wd/2010 (Case No. 1-45/2010 on compliance procedures making
amendments to the Constitution of Ukraine).
Commenting on the decision of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, the Constitutional
Court of the Russian Federation emphasized in its statement that «the very
question of charging the country’s Supreme Court judges with exercising their
judicial power (which is well within the limits of their powers and on the basis
of their own internal beliefs) to make decisions that are not patently unjust,
allows to doubt the fact of compliance of the basic guarantees of a judge in the
country.»
February 24 and 27, 2014. On two occasions, deputies of the Verkhovna
Rada of Ukraine held a political amnesty, freeing 28 people who were jailed on
the suspicion of committing a crime or who had already been found guilty of
committing one. It is indicative that not all the amnestied individuals, who were
presented to the public as «political prisoners», were involved in any political
action.
For example, Sergey and Dmitry Pavlychenko were criminated for murdering a
judge and subsequently convicted. Another amnestied «political prisoner» was
Igor Gannenko, the leader of a neo-Nazi gang, which committed crimes motivated
by ethnic, racial, and religious hatred, including anti-Semitism. I. Gannenko and
his group of four were convicted in January 2013 for «hooliganism» (in March 2013,
the Court of Appeal of the Sumy region confirmed this sentence).
Some amnestied radical nationalists, taking on the romantic aura of «martyrdom»,
immediately rushed to take an active part in the political life of the country.
Vindicated by their imprisonment, they manipulated young adults and teenagers,
casting themselves and those of their kind as heroes. This primarily regards the
group of leaders of the «Patriot of Ukraine» movement. Between 2006 and 2011
this group, according to human rights NGOs, was the most serious neo-Nazi
organization in Ukraine. The movement’s leader, Andrey Biletsky, along with
two activists, was accused of attempted murder (the so-called «Defenders of
Rymarskaya» case). The ideologist of the organization, Oleg Odnorozhenko, was
accused of organizing several beatings of political opponents by the «Patriot of
Ukraine» militants, and participating in these beatings.
Violations of the right to life, violations of public order and safety,
the use of torture, inhuman treatment and committed iniquity
The most famous of the amnestied «Patriot of Ukraine» activists were the so-called
«Vasilkovsky terrorists», including Igor Moseichuk, Sergei Bevz, and Vladimir
Shpara. They were radical nationalists from Vasylkov, the Kiev region and, by a
January 2014 ruling of the Kiev region Svyatoshinsky District Court, were convicted
of preparing a terrorist act. Just a few days after their release, the amnestied
«Patriot of Ukraine» movement leaders became involved in the political life of
Ukraine under the Pravyi Sektor banner.
February 24, 2014. The coordinator of Pravyi Sektor in Western Ukraine
A. Muzychko (also known as Sashko Bily) came to a meeting of the presidium
of the regional council of Rivne, and, exposing a machine gun and hunting
knife, demanded that the Party of Regions shall «buy housing for relatives of the
dead activists of this movement» (i.e. Pravyi Sektor). Otherwise, he promised to
confiscate the apartments and houses of former regional leaders of the Party of
Regions.
February 24, 2014. The Party of Regions faction leader in the Verkhovna Rada
A. Yefremov gave a briefing about an incident with the daughter of one of his
colleagues. During the night, some unknown men busted through her door and
trashed her Kiev apartment in order to «see how the children of deputies live». He
also noted that 74 deputies resigned from the Party of Regions faction because of
intimidation tactics.
February 24, 2014. In response to the rejection of the «new Kiev government»
by the inhabitants of the Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, leaders of right-wing
groups in Ukraine (AUU Svoboda, Pravyi Sektor, Patriot of Ukraine, Social- National
Assembly of Ukraine) issued a statement calling for the «punishment» of Crimeans
for their openly expressed civil position. In particular, the activist Igor Moseychuk,
who was convicted for terrorism and amnestied by the «new government», publicly
proposed to arrange «trains of friendship» consisting of the right-wing nationalist
militants to punish the inhabitants of the peninsula for their decision.
February 25, 2014. Pravyi Sektor and Maidan Self-Defense activists broke into
the office of the Trading Services firm in Ivano-Frankivsk, and seized the Director
I. Dutka, who led the Ivano-Frankivsk city division of the Party of Regions. He was
taken out to the crowd and forced to kneel and ask for forgiveness.
February 26, 2014. The «Kiev regime» authorized the storming of the building
of the Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. The attack
was perpetrated by activists from right-wing Ukrainian groups (Pravyi Sektor),
insurgents from the Al-Qaeda terrorist network, Hizb ut-Tahrir, and Crimean Tatar
White book on violations of human rights
and the rule of law in Ukraine
Wahhabi sympathizers. As a result of the massive attack, civilians who voluntarily
defended the administrative building were killed.
February 27, 2014. A video surfaced on the Internet showing the coordinator of
the Pravyi Sektor in Western Ukraine, A. Muzychko (Sashko Bily) publicly beat and
humiliated employee of Rivne prosecutor's office A. Targoniya at his workplace.
February 27–28, 2014. Crimean self-defense forces managed to prevent a
major terrorist attack on the peninsula. At one of the checkpoints an attempt
was thwarted to import the explosive power of 400 pounds of TNT into the
territory of the autonomous republic. The attempters were detained by the
self-defense forces. However, the regional investigating authorities of Kherson,
where the detainees were transferred, still have not given any legal assessment
to the facts.
End of February, 2014. The illegal armed groups seized the Dovzhenko Film
Studio administrative building. The aggressors demanded access to the shop that
housed weapons and pyrotechnics.
Beginning of March, 2014. On social networks, a massive campaign seeking to
intimidate Crimeans was employed by Pravyi Sektor militants and other nationalist
organizations with the financial support of the «Kiev regime». The Crimean people
were ordered, under the threat of physical violence, not to participate in peaceful
demonstrations opposing the Maidan movement. Crimean activists, including Tatar
religious figures, their relatives, and children received threatening messages on
their phones.
March 1, 2014. Using his personal profile on Russian social-networking website
«Vkontakte», the leader of the Praviy Sektor D. Yarosh appealed to the leader of the
Chechen terrorists Doku Umarov (in 2010, the U.S. officially included Umarov on its
list of international terrorists; in 2011, the UN Security Council included him on its list
of terrorists linked to al-Qaeda) for support, entailing the organization of terrorist
attacks on the territory of the Russian Federation.
March 1 and 2 2014. Nationalist groups organized pickets outside the Russian
Consulate General in Lviv. In the evening, the protesters attempted to block the
main vehicle entrance gate using their personal vehicles.
March 3, 2014. Pravyi Sektor gunmen carried out a series of arson attacks on nonresidential
premises and private vehicles of Crimean residents.
March 3, 2014. It was reported that the Ukranian Parliamaent is ready to introduce
a bill that calls for a prison sentence of 3 to 10 years for Ukrainian citizens who apply
Violations of the right to life, violations of public order and safety,
the use of torture, inhuman treatment and committed iniquity
for a second citizenship. The document was submitted to the Verkhovna Rada of
Ukraine in the beginning of February 2014 by deputies from the Batkivshchyna
faction, Alexander Brigintsa, Leonid Emtsom and Andrei Pavlovsky. The bill’s
authors still do not consider it necessary to withdraw the bill.
March 5, 2014. A recording of the telephone conversation, dated February 26,
2014, between the Estonian Foreign Minister U. Paet and EU High Representative
for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton, following the visit of
the Foreign Minister of Estonia to Ukraine, surfaced on the Internet. During the
conversation, Paet referred to information, received from the chief Maidan doctor
O. Bogomolets, about snipers who had shot people during the protests in Kiev.
According to Paet, all evidence points to the fact that both protesters and law
enforcement officers were killed by the same snipers. He said that the new coalition
is unwilling to investigate the exact circumstances of the incident and the people
are growing rapidly aware that these snipers were not hired by Yanukovych, but by
someone from the new coalition.
Paet also noted that in Ukraine, there is very strong pressure on the members of
parliament. He said that journalists saw armed men beat a deputy in broad daylight
in front of the Verkhovna Rada.
March 6, 2014. Euromaidan supporters in Sevastopol carried out an assault at a
collection point for humanitarian aid.
March 6, 2014. There were reports posted on the Ukrainian forum antifashist.
com, that the people's governor of Donetsk Region Pavel Gubarev, who had been
detained the same day by the Security Service of Ukraine, was being tortured. The
reports stated that, according to data obtained from physicians working in SBU
prison in Kiev, where P. Gubarev is being held, he was severely beaten several
times and eventually fell into a coma. Prison physicians didn’t have enough medical
opportunities to attend to P. Gubarev in jail, but the medics were prohibited to
transfer him to another facility because the Security Service did not want to make
the incident public. Shortly after, the portal of Vremya Novosti (News Time) had
information that P. Gubarev had not just been beaten but also tortured in order to
force him to confess that he was on a mission from Russian special services.
March 8, 2014. Self-Defense Forces in Simferopol, Crimea, detained two nationalradicals,
natives of Rivne, who had been previously convicted. They admitted that,
among other extremists, they were sent to the Crimea by Pravyi Sektor with the
objective to penetrate in small groups (2-3 people) into the autonomous region,
in order to destabilize the peninsula (committing robberies, organizing fights, and
other offenses).
White book on violations of human rights
and the rule of law in Ukraine
Ukrainian activists of right-wing organizations located in the Crimea shouted
extremist slogans during the celebration of the 200th anniversary of Taras
Shevchenko in Simferopol. They also tried, in front of the cameras of purposely
invited Western journalists, to stage a dramatized brawl in order to show Crimeans
victimizing them (near the venue of the rally, a young man was seated in the
provocateurs’ car, with his head pre-painted with red paint imitating blood).
March 8, 2014. In Kharkov, about 10 radical nationalists attacked the activists, who
were returning from the rally against the current Kiev authorities. As a result, several
activists were injured, and one of them was subsequently hospitalized.
March 9, 2014 Pravyi Sektor militants gunned down E. Slonevsky, a local
businessman, at a cafe in the center of Kharkov. One more visitor was killed and a
waiter wounded.
March 9, 2014. Cases of destruction of Crimea peninsula residents' passports
by provocateurs were documented. The said provocateurs visited houses under
the guise of Crimean law enforcement officials and representatives of electoral
commissions, asking the citizens to show their passports, and once having
received them, tore them, making them invalid.
March 10, 2014. While trying to break through the Crimean Self-Defense forces
checkpoint, a Pravyi Sektor activist resorted to using weapons; however, he was
neutralized and sent to the hospital.
A resident of Ivano-Frankivsk who arrived in Sevastopol brought down fire on
Ephraim St. After his arrest, he said that in Kiev, he acquired the weapons and was
assigned a task to stage a provocation. He had three other accomplices. They
rented an apartment in the Gagarin district of Sevastopol. During the search of the
apartment, extremist leaflets were found.
March 11, 2014. Thirty masked men with wooden sticks entered the premises of
the Sviatoshynskyi district prosecutor’s office in Kiev. They threatened to inflict
physical harm on the senior prosecutor and his family members, and demanded
that he write a letter of resignation. The prosecutor refused, and he and his
colleague were severely beaten.
March 11, 2014. In Rivne, the coordinator of Pravyi Sektor in Western Ukraine
A. Muzychko (Sashko Bily) announced in an interview with a journalist from the
Vesti newspaper his intention to gather 10–12 million U.S. dollars, to start a prize
for «anyone who would knock off Putin».
Violations of the right to life, violations of public order and safety,
the use of torture, inhuman treatment and committed iniquity
March 13, 2014. In Donetsk, peaceful demonstrators who took to the streets to
express their opposition to the «new Ukrainian authorities» and support the idea of
the country’s federalization were attacked by non-lethal weapons and bats, wielded
by right-wing militant groups who began to arrive to the city the night before from
other regions of Ukraine. The clashes left one person dead and a large number of
people wounded.
March 13, 2014. About 20 armed men in masks and camouflage uniforms broke
into the office of UkrBusinessBank in the center of Kiev, disarmed the guards, and
tried to enter the cash vault. After negotiations, the bank robbers surrendered. At
the police station they called themselves «soldiers of Narnia», claiming to be part
of the Maidan Self-Defense group. According to media reports, a few hours later
they were released.
March 13, 2014. A detachmen t of the radical nationalists in camouflage uniforms
and flak jackets with metal sticks and bats in hand, stormed the prosecutors’ office
in the Sviatoshynskyi district of Kiev. All prosecutors were forced out of the office
rooms into the corridor, and then seven insurgents attacked one of the prosecutors,
Valentine Bryantsev, beating him with bats. They also used a stun gun on him. The
attackers demanded to close a pending Sviatoshynskyi District Court criminal case
against one of their accomplices.
March 14, 2014. In the center of Kiev, a group of young men in masks with Pravyi
Sektor armbands and machine guns attacked three local residents. About ten of
these individuals shot off automatic rifle fire into the air, and they hit one of the
tenants on the head with a metal bar.
Twelve people in camouflage entered the administrative building of the National Aviation
University, introducing themselves as representatives of Pravyi Sektor. They demanded
that the rector of the university, Professor N. Kulik, write a letter of resignation. The
scientist was saved from punishment only by the police who rushed to the scene.
The «Heroes of Maidan» also demanded the resignation of the Director of the
Institute of Ukrainian Studies, Professor A. Chaykovsky, and a group of employees
of the Institute of National Remembrance (the latter ones were forced to write the
history of «revolution» and glorify the «heroes of Maidan»).
The Director of the Department of Migration Services of Ukraine N. Naumenko,
who refused to give Pravyi Sektor militants files with refugee cases, was beaten and
stabbed in the face.
March 14, 2014. First Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on
Fighting Organized Crime and Corruption G. Moskal reported that the Mark Plaza
White book on violations of human rights
and the rule of law in Ukraine
jewelry store in Nikolaev was robbed by men with bats and a gun; in the village of
Stoyantsy in the Kiev region, a militant group disarmed the local police service of
their weapons and robbed a private house of 230 thousand dollars; in Odessa, armed
men in camouflage uniforms stole an ATM in front of the police; in Uzhgorod, militants
came to a former regional official, tortured his wife and son and took their money and
valuables; in Vinnytsia region, individuals broke into the house of the head of Regional
Development Strategy Foundation, tortured and killed him for a loot of $800.
According to media reports, numerous armed groups generated by the Ukrainian
Euromaidan movement were financially poor after the «hot phase» of the coup and
resorted to robbery and racketeering as a source of revenue. The new «leadership»
of the MIA of Ukraine turns a blind eye on this fact.
Praviy Sektor interrupted work of the Sberbank-Ukraine branch office in Vinnitsa.
About ten militants barricaded the door of the bank, stacked tires in front of it, and
allowed neither customers nor employees to enter. In the same way, they promised
«to starve out» the other offices of Russian banks in the area. The only way to
resolve the threat, according to media reports, was by paying them off; in many
places in Western and Central Ukraine, stickers were seen reading «Protected by
Pravyi Sektor». According to unconfirmed reports, one such sticker costs from 10
to 25 thousand dollars.
A group of unidentified men demanded owners of a restaurant in the Podgortsi,
Kiev region, to transfer their business to the property of the people. The men called
themselves members of the Maidan Self-Defense movement and threatened to
destroy the property using «Molotov cocktails», demanding throughout the day that
the owners transfer business ownership over to the people.
At the Kiev Borispol airport, over 30 Sevastopol sailors returning from long voyage
became victims of looting and robbery committed by unknown persons who
introduced themselves as Euromaidan militants. Turning to the police resulted in no
action, and the airport management chose not to advertise this fact.
On the night of March 14, 2014 the building of Bessarabian market in Kiev was
set ablaze. Experts detected that the «arson was committed using an incendiary
mixture.» Eyewitnesses claim that immediately after the fire started, a few dozen
Maidan Self-Defense militants in camouflage uniforms with batons exited the
building. No one dared to stop the arsonists.
March 15, 2014. Pravyi Sektor militants staged a massacre in Kharkov, during
which two people were killed and four wounded. Journalists contend that the
militants were led by Andrew Beletskyi, one of Pravyi Sektor’s leaders. No
Violations of the right to life, violations of public order and safety,
the use of torture, inhuman treatment and committed iniquity
information about his arrest was reported. The voiced assumption was that he,
along with other rebel leaders, was released by the police.
March 15, 2014. Representatives of law enforcement agencies arrived at an
apartment in the Dnieper district of Kiev to detent the landlord for illegal possession
of drugs. However, almost immediately another group of people, calling themselves
members of the Maidan Self-Defense, arrived on the scene. They tied and
immobilized police officers and the prosecutor, took their identification cards
from them, and told the officers that their IDs would be passed on to the Assistant
Minister of the Interior.
Former Ukrainian President Leonid Kravchuk called on the «powers in Kiev» to give
their attention to the fact that looting has already begun in Ukraine, with Kravchuk’s
own house being looted, too. «Since some marauder broke into my house, I sleep
with a gun. While the authorities promise to restore order, I am forced to shoot to
protect myself,» said the first president of Ukraine.
March 16, 2014. Russia announced an international search for the leader of the
ultranationalist Pravyi Sektor organization D. Yarosh, who threatened to cut off
the supply of Russian gas to the EU through Ukraine’s territory. «Russia is making
money driving oil and gas to the West through our tube, so we will destroy the
tube, depriving the enemy of a source of revenue,» the post on the official page
of Pravyi Sektor on the VKontakte social network read. D. Yarosh also urged the
Ukrainian government to order the formation of guerrilla and sabotage groups,
which must take action in case armed forces of the Russian Federation enter
Ukraine’s territory.
March 16, 2014. In Chernigov, 50 Kamaz trucks, which belonged to
representation office of their manufacturer, were stopped by unidentified armed
men at customs on the border with Belarus already when they were to leave
the territory of Ukraine and were forced to return to Chernigov. The police, who
arrived first on the scene after being summoned by the plant’s representatives,
did not do anything. According to witnesses, the armed men, who turned
the trucks back, stated: «Russians have taken Crimea from us, so we’ll take
everything they own in Ukraine.»
March 17, 2014. First Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on
Fighting Organized Crime and Corruption G. Moskal said that twenty unidentified
Euromaidan activists armed with Kalashnikov machine guns and pistols seized the
residential house belonging to Ukrkomplekt Plus company, in Kobtsy village in the
Vasilkovskaja district of Kiev region. The house was under protection of the State
Security Service (SBU) of the Vasilkovskaja police department. The SBU staff,
White book on violations of human rights
and the rule of law in Ukraine
and following them, the task force of Vasilkovskaja police department, arrived on
call. But instead of protecting the property, the SBU and police forces went on to
consume spirits stolen from the house, together with the criminals. In the morning,
without taking any measures, the law enforcement officers left. The written appeal
from the owners of the home to the Vasilkovskaja police department brought no
response.
March 17, 2014. In Dnepropetrovsk, about 30 representatives of the Pravyi Sektor
national-extremist organization in camouflage uniforms, armed with sticks and stun
guns, approached some young people standing at a bus stop and twice shouted
«Glory to Ukraine.» As the young people remained silent in response, the extremists
have beaten them severely.
March 18, 2014. Members of Pravyi Sektor refused to surrender their weapons
and join the National Guard of Ukraine. According to the organization’s leader
D. Yarosh, there are about 10 thousand Pravyi Sektor members in Ukraine. The
exact number of weapons they possess is unknown.
March 18, 2014. In Simferopol, shots from a sniper killed a Crimean self-defender
and a Ukrainian soldier. Two more people, a Crimean self-defender and a Ukrainian
soldier, were wounded.
March 18, 2014. The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine passed the order to the Armed
Forces of Ukraine stationed in the Crimea, allowing the use of weapons.
March 19, 2014. In Vinnitsa region, about 300 armed men, led by Pravyi Sektor
activists, captured the Nemiroff Company distillery.
March 20, 2014 Deputy Head of the Committee of National Defense of
Sevastopol S. Tutuev said that recently, 30 alleged ultra-right activists who
planned provocation during Crimea people referendum were arrested in
Sevastopol and deported to mainland Ukraine. «The discovery of several local
neo-Nazis groups prevented the provocations. The night after the referendum,
a signal from the Euromaidan leaders calling for the retreat from the peninsula
was intercepted,» said S. Tutuev.
March 20, 2014. A video surfaced on the Internet in which the so-called
Euromaidan activists were shown extorting money and gas from the head of Lukoil-
Ukraine office in Rivne for the «needs of the revolution.»
March 20, 2014. In Kiev, a crowd of masked men, armed with firearms and
machetes, stormed the building of the State Architectural and Construction
Violations of the right to life, violations of public order and safety,
the use of torture, inhuman treatment and committed iniquity
Inspection of Ukraine. Posing as «anti-corruption committee staff», they tried to
seize folders with archive documents.
March 20, 2014. A video surfaced on the Internet showing members of the Pravyi
Sektor organization capturing the prosecutor’s office in Odessa, demanding that
the law enforcement officers «decided whether they are with Ukraine or with the
occupiers.»
March 21, 2014. A house belonging to the leader of the movement Ukrainskyi
Vybor (Ukrainian Choice) V. Medvedchuk was burned down.
March 21, 2014. During a stop at a station in Vinnitsa, men in Ukrainian Insurgent
Army uniforms came aboard the passenger train cars of the No. 65 Moscow-
Chisinau train and started «document inspection». At the same time, citizens who
submitted Russian passports were forced to hand over their money and jewelry.
Attempts by the victims to submit a report to the local police were in vain. The police
refused to accept the reports.
March 22, 2014. Radical nationalists from the Pravyi Sektor extremist movement
created a party under the same name on the basis of the Ukrainian National
Assembly (UNA) political party. The members of the party included other nationalist
groups who support the Pravyi Sektor movement. Its elected leader D. Yarosh was
nominated as a candidate for the presidential elections in Ukraine.
March 23, 2014. The property and funds of 23 children’s health camps were
handed over to Pravyi Sektor leader D. Yarosh for National Guard of Ukraine youth
reserve training. The Pravyi Sektor youth wing consists of juvenile football ultras and
supporters of Ukrainian nationalism. They were the backbone of the Euromaidan
radical activists. According to Yarosh’s plans, militants from the nationalist youth
wing, often referred to as «Yarosh Youth» («Yarosh Jugend»), will teach the basics
of military affairs, subversive struggle, unarmed combat, and mine blasting in
the children’s health camps. Daily youth recruitment is being carried out by the
territorial command recruitment services of the National Guard.
March 23, 2014. In Kiev, the members of the so-called «11th self-defense sotnya»
group made an attempt to seize a building that houses the Russian Center of
Science and Culture (RCSC) and the representative office of Rossotrudnichestvo.
A group of 12 men, armed with metal rods (the leader had a pistol), demanded
that the residents of the building immediately vacate it, as it was allegedly being
confiscated «in revenge for Crimea», and henceforth it would accommodate the
«Self-Defense Headquarters of the Pechersk District». All attempts of the head of
the representative office and his deputy, who arrived at the place of the conflict, to
White book on violations of human rights
and the rule of law in Ukraine
make the «self-defense forces» to listen to reason (the building does not belong
to Russia, it is just leased from the Ukrainian authorities) failed. Moreover, the
attackers took keys from the guards and hijacked from the courtyard of the RCSC
a car which belonged to Rossotrudnichestvo.
March 24, 2014. In Zaporizhia several dozen militants of the so-called «Maidan Self-
Defense Forces», armed with sticks, stones and iron bars, attacked participants of
the «Friendship Rally from Melitopol to Zaporizhia». Many people were injured, and
cars were damaged.
March 25, 2014. Media reported on the plans of the Security Service of Ukraine to
attract the private military company Greystone Limited (an analog, and possibly an
affiliate of the American private army Blackwater, whose members are involved in
systematic violations of human rights in various hot spots in the world) to work on
the suppression of dissent in the Russian-speaking eastern regions of the country.
According to the media, the initiative comes from the «oligarchs» Igor Kolomoyskyi
and Sergiy Taruta, who were appointed as governors of Dnepropetrovsk and
Donetsk Oblasts by the «Kiev authorities». It is significant that the practice of
attracting foreign private military companies violates the Ukrainian law that prohibits
foreign citizens to take part in the work of Ukrainian private security companies.
March 26, 2014. People’s Deputy of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, representative
of the Communist Party Spiridon Kilinkarov demanded that the Minister of Internal
Affairs of Ukraine Arsen Avakov order military formations to vacate the office of
the Communist Party. These detachments were impeding the pre-election work of
party members in the current presidential campaign. Earlier, the Communist Party
faction stated that they would not participate in voting for any draft legislation until
their office in Kiev was returned to the party.
March 26, 2014. Khreschatyk Street, Kiev. Activists of the social movement
«Avtodozor» and the sotnya of the «Maidan Self-Defense» forces picketed the
offices of banks with Russian stock (VTB, Alpha, Sberbank, Prominvest), demanding
the closing and nationalization of all their branch offices in Ukraine. The building of
Sberbank was seized and plundered.
March 27, 2014. The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted, in the first reading, the
draft law «On restoring confidence in the judicial system of Ukraine», proposed by
the All-Ukrainian Union Svoboda, which implies the introduction of lustration of the
judiciary in the country. Another draft law, which deals with the lustration of persons
holding public positions, was proposed to the Parliament by Svoboda on March
26, 2014. Lustration requirements were announced in February during the Maidan
Violations of the right to life, violations of public order and safety,
the use of torture, inhuman treatment and committed iniquity
protests. These were later repeated in the Verkhovna Rada by Vitali Klitschko, the
leader of the Udar Party, who called for the opening of criminal proceedings against
members of the previous government. According to media reports, the lustration
list will contain names of 145 people, including the President Viktor Yanukovych and
his family.
March 31, 2014. The Department of Health in Kiev reported that the number of
victims of the riots in the capital of Ukraine accounted for 1,608 people, 129 of them
still in hospitals, 103 were killed.
------------------------------
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
(December 16, 1966)
Article 6. Every human being has the inherent right to life. This right shall be
protected by law. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his life.
Article 7. No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or
degrading treatment or punishment.
Article 20. Any propaganda for war should be prohibited by law.
Article 21. The right of peaceful assembly shall be recognized. No restrictions
may be placed on the exercise of this right other than those imposed in
conformity with the law and which are necessary in a democratic society in
the interests of national security or public safety, public order (ordre public),
the protection of public health or morals or the protection of the rights and
freedoms of others.
Article 26. All persons are equal before the law and are entitled without any
discrimination to the equal protection of the law.
Convention for the Protection of Human Rights
and Fundamental Freedoms (Rome, November 4, 1950)
Article 2. Everyone’s right to life shall be protected by law. No one shall be
deprived of his life intentionally save in the execution of a sentence of a court
following his conviction of a crime for which this penalty is provided by law.
Deprivation of life shall not be regarded as inflicted in contravention of this
article when it results from the use of force which is no more than absolutely
necessary … in action lawfully taken for the purpose of quelling a riot or
insurrection.
IMG_4638
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9 Comments on Instagram:
annaskoul: @liaskwerklooi Δεν το λες και "μαζευτηκαμε"..
liaskwerklooi: @annaskoul μετά τα Μεξικά, η Boston και η NY είναι σα να πήγε στο Ζούμπερι
lackylou: @liaskwerklooi @annaskoul εχμ. Μπορεί να είναι φωτό αρχείου. Εχμ. Και μπορεί να είμαι κάπου αλλού τώρα
liaskwerklooi: προκαλείς.
annaskoul: @lackylou Ελλαδα ας πουμε?
lackylou: @annaskoul ας πουμε
liaskwerklooi: μάλιστα.
annaskoul: Να πουμε να πουμε..για να δουμε..
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liaskwerklooi: Προπύλαια;
aliglini: ❤️
lenadiomidous: ✨Όμορφη!!!✨
lackylou: @lenadiomidous σε ευχαριστώ :)
lackylou: @aliglini ❤️ thank you
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