The following is a petition to President Yanukovych calling for the dismissal of Anatoly Mohylyov, Minister of the Interior, and providing grounds for this call.

“We as Ukrainian citizens consider that during the time that the Ministry of the Interior has been headed by Anatoly Mohylyov, there has been systematic degradation of the law enforcement bodies. One can cite as examples the sharp increase over previous years in the number of unlawful actions by law enforcement officers against Ukrainian citizens and foreign guests in our country. There has been an increase in the number of unwarranted detentions by the police of Ukrainian and foreign nationals.

Prominent violations of the law, namely the beating up by police officers of media representatives, including Yury Stetsenko from Poltava, Artem Furmaniuk from Donetsk, employees of the publication “Free Odessa” have still not received the appropriate legal assessment from the leadership of the law enforcement agencies, in particular the MoI. The investigation into these cases is moving very slowly.

The improper attitude to journalists by the police has not gone unnoticed by international organizations. It is not least because of the interference of MoI employees in the activities of the media that Ukraine has fallen to 131st place in the Reporters without Borders rating, this being lower than Iraq. 

Since Anatoly Mohylyov has held the post of Minister there has been an increase in the number of deaths of our citizens in police stations. Some of these cases are in their essence akin to murder, for example, the death in April 2010 in the Shevchenkivsky District Police Station in Kyiv of student Ihor Indylo. From March to October last year, according to MoI official data, 28 people died in police stations. According to unofficial data, however, there were more than 40 such deaths. Most of these deaths, especially those in the capital, have not been properly investigation, while in individual cases the investigations have been simply sabotaged by the law enforcement bodies.

The Ministry of the Interiro has turned into an instrument of repression with the help of which civic activists and opposition politicians are persecuted. Unlawful detentions, searches, “prophylactic talks” are returning the country to its totalitarian past.

Corruption and abuse of power by police officials have become widespread and an even legalized phenomenon which shames our country and kills any hope among Ukrainian citizens of just protection by the State of their safety and rights.

In view of the above, we call on you to in the very near future removed the higher management of the MoI, headed by Anatoly Mohylyov from the exercising of their duties.

The petition, together with al signatures, will be publicly handed to the President’s Administration.