Know-how from “beloved friends” – repressive lawsuits against human rights organizations

The Vinnytsia city public organization “Vinnytsia Human Rights Group” announces that a lawsuit has been filed against it in civil court proceedings by the Stryzhavka Correctional Colony of the administration of the State Department of Ukraine for the Execution of Punishments in the Vinnytsia region (No. 81). A preliminary court hearing regarding the statement of claim for the protection of honour (!), dignity (!), and business reputation (!) of the correctional colony will take place at 14:30 on 28 July 2008 in courtroom No. 222 of the Leninskyi District Court of the city of Vinnytsia (Vinnytsia, Hrushevskoho St., 17). The colony demands that the Vinnytsia Human Rights Group publish a series of retractions in the media regarding our calls to verify information about facts of violations of convicts’ rights and to pay 100,000 UAH ($20,600) as compensation for moral damages.
The Vinnytsia Human Rights Group is looking forward to the opportunity to hear in court the evidence of the existence of honour and dignity at Stryzhavka Colony No. 81, as well as to become acquainted with the evidence of the existence of a high business reputation of the indicated penitentiary institution.
One could ironize for a long time regarding the legal argumentation of the lawsuit, signed by the Honoured Lawyer of Ukraine, Mr. Mahomed Rasulovych Mahomaiev, who in 2004 was recognized by court order as a violator of election legislation. However, we note with alarm that for the first time in the history of Ukraine, in the eighteenth year of independence, the state is filing a lawsuit against a human rights public organization. The seriousness of the state’s intentions is also evidenced by the fact of paying a 5,000 UAH court fee for the stated demand to recover 100,000 UAH of “moral damages” from VHRG coordinator Dmytro Hroisman.
If the regime of President Kuchma went down in history for the cruel and bloody persecution of independent journalists and opposition politicians, then the regime of Viktor Yushchenko aspires to the laurels of a suppressor of civil society and independent civil activists.
An eloquent testimony to the cynicism of the authorities is the fact that the Ukrainian “prison guards” are demanding that the court punish a human rights organization for its very human rights activity, including the VHRG’s calls for a fair investigation of information about facts of human rights violations in penitentiary institutions. On the “list of guilt” of the Vinnytsia Human Rights Group is even an “appeal to the Government Commissioner for the European Court of Human Rights”!
Simultaneously, repressions continue against journalists who write on human rights topics; in particular, in the Bershad District Court of the Vinnytsia region, a hearing of a civil lawsuit by the head of the Mohyliv-Podilskyi Correctional Colony No. 114 against the editor-in-chief of the newspaper “Slovo Bozhe” (“God’s Word”), Oleksandr Drahany, is due to begin these days. The journalist is being demanded to apologize for… writing complaints about human rights violations in the colony to the President of Ukraine and the Prosecutor General of Ukraine. By doing this, the authorities are making it clear: don't complain, it will be “more expensive for yourself”.
Lawsuits against human rights organizations and extrajudicial reprisals against civil activists affect precisely those representatives of civil society who refuse to provide ideological services to the authorities, remaining committed to the mission of protecting victims of human rights violations and public interests.
The Vinnytsia Human Rights Group calls on civil society institutions to unite around our common values and the mission of non-political, non-governmental, and non-profit organizations. We are in great need of words and letters in support of our struggle for human rights in Ukraine. At the same time, we kindly ask those organizations that have chosen “constructive cooperation with the authorities” as their mission, who are engaged in serving dubious political orders for the legitimization of constitutional changes in an unconstitutional way, who divide human rights into “more valuable” and “less valuable”, and who are ready to betray victims of human rights violations for the sake of the possibility of receiving foreign grant support for “large-scale systemic measures of constructive cooperation between human rights defenders and the authorities” to not worry about our problems; stay with your new colleagues and friends from the presidential branch of executive power.
We count on the support of the mass media—after all, attempts to suppress human rights defenders and restrictions on freedom of speech are interrelated. The mission of journalists in a democratic society is to carry the word of truth to the people; we believe that journalists will honestly and conscientiously cover the trial regarding the lawsuit against the Vinnytsia Human Rights Group as a socially important event. We specifically appeal to the many-thousands-strong community of Ukrainian internet journalists and amateur bloggers with a request to cover our struggle.
We are in need of qualified legal assistance in conducting the trial. We will welcome proposals from all specialists in the sphere of freedom of expression; we need the help of lawyers who have experience in protecting civil society organizations from unjust persecution for carrying out their statutory activities.
We appeal to the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights with a request to open proceedings regarding the fact of the persecution of human rights defenders in connection with their professional activities; we ask the Ukrainian ombudsman to enter the court proceedings as a third party without independent claims, which is provided for by Ukrainian legislation.
We call on the People's Deputies of Ukraine to pay attention to the need for legislative assurance of guarantees for the activities of human rights organizations, in particular, guarantees for the consideration of appeals, complaints, reports, and proposals in the order determined by a special law, which will correspond to the principles contained in the UN General Assembly Resolution 53/144 “On the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms”.
The Vinnytsia Human Rights Group appeals to our clients: victims of torture and cruel treatment, refugees and asylum seekers, victims of patients' rights violations—we cannot be intimidated or destroyed, we long ago and consciously chose for ourselves this path of struggle for our and your rights, for our and your freedom, and we will not turn from it. Always count on our responsiveness, professionalism, and sympathy. Thank you for your trust!
Vinnytsia Human Rights Group