17.09.2012

16 September – In Memory of Slain Journalists

On Sunday evening, 16 September – 12 years since journalist Georgy Gongadze was abducted – a meeting in remembrance was held on Maidan Nezalezhnosti [Independence Square].

08.08.2012

Unwarranted interference by the Prosecutor’s Office in Luhansk’s election process

The Luhansk Regional Branch of the Committee of Voters of Ukraine [CVU has reported that the Luhansk Prosecutor’s Office Press Service has circulated information that “in order to ensure speedy response to infringements of legislation on the parliamentary elections” the Prosecutor’s Office has set up a “hotline”.

06.08.2012

Civic activists protest over police assault on lawyer

Civic activists have held a picket outside the Prosecutor General’s Office to register their protest over the treatment lawyer Oleh Veremeyenko received in the Dniprovsky Police Station in Kyiv.

19.07.2012

More victims of police protection of illegal mining

The latest tragedy involving illegal mines took place during the night of 12 July with two men from Krasny Luch receiving burns to 90% of their body and burns to the respiratory tract. The men, working as guards at a kopanka, or illegal mine, around 300 metres from the Miusynskaya Mine, were pouring fuel from one barrel to another when the explosion happened. The two men died on 16 July.

12.07.2012

TVi accuses tax authorities of pressure

The General Director of TVi, Mykola Knyazhytsky has stated that his channel is facing pressure from the tax authorities and has called on the Interior Ministry and the Tax Service to deal with the situation.

12.07.2012

Widely condemned Personal Data Protection Bill gains fangs

From 1 July 2012 stiff penalties can be imposed for violation of a law condemned by media and human rights organizations, not least because of the enormous scope it provides for abuse. The law makes additions to the Code of Administrative Offences and updates Article 182 of the Criminal Code.

10.07.2012

Law passed making most public procurement secret

27.06.2012

Peaceful protest against torture banned in Zaporizhya

On 26 June, International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, the Zaporizhya authorities banned civic activists from holding a peaceful protest against torture.

22.06.2012

Parliament rejects new law on public morality

The Verkhovna Rada on Thursday voted to withdraw from consideration a draft Law on the Protection of Public Morality. The draft bill had been criticized by media and civic organizations.

06.06.2012

Kharkiv court bans demonstrations in support of the Ukrainian language

The Kharkiv Regional District Court of Appeal has prohibited two groups from holding protest actions in defence of the Ukrainian language on 5 June. The information and copy of the court ruling came from one of the organizers, Dmytro Pylypets.

31.05.2012

Attempts to bribe voters already underway

Although it is not bribery until the election campaign formally begins for potential parliamentary candidates to hand out food baskets, it does infringe the standards for honest elections.

23.04.2012

Removal of satirical material about Yanukovych family confirmed, censorship denied

Studio Kvartal-95 has confirmed that an issue of “Vechirny Kvartal” from 7 April in which President Yanukovych’s family was mocked did not come out in print, nor was the television version broadcast on Inter. It claims, however, that this was “dictated by conditions of the editing process”.

16.03.2012

Verkhovna Rada fails to elect a Human Rights Ombudsperson

With the result suggesting either intrigue or disagreement within the ruling majority, the Verkhovna Rada on Thursday failed to provide sufficient support for either candidate put forward as potential Human Rights Ombudsperson.

05.03.2012

Students detained for pasting anti-Yanukovych posters

Much remains unclear about the police actions on 29 February in relation to two young students in Kherson except the anti-Presidential nature of the leaflet they were pasting onto a wall when detained by police.

17.02.2012

Court cancels order closing Dorozhny Kontrol website

The Desnyansky District Court in Kyiv has cancelled its order from 10 February temporarily closing the website of Dorozhny Kontrol (http://www.roadcontrol.org.ua/)) which monitors the work of the traffic police and breaches of drivers’ rights. The decision was taken by the same judge, Olha Salamon on 16 February.

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