The Ukrainian Weekly 2012, No.37

www.ukrweekly.com INSIDE: l Exclusive interview with Bishop Borys Gudziak – page 3 l Ukraine’s achievements at the Paralympic Games – page 9 l Communities celebrate Ukraine’s Independence Day – page 11 THEPublished U by theKRAINIAN Ukrainian National Association Inc., a fraternal W non-profit associationEEKLY Vol. LXXX No. 37 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2012 $1/$2 in Ukraine Journalists protest Stryiskyi Park Collegium censorship in Ukraine PARSIPPANY, N.J. – President Viktor Yanukovych’s on UCU campus is blessed September 3 speech to the World Newspaper Congress convening in Kyiv was interrupted by about a dozen journalists protesting media censorship in Ukraine. Mr. Yanukovych did not react as the journalists rose from their seats and held up signs reading “Stop censorship” and “Media oligarchs serve the authorities,” but security guards violently ripped the signs out of the hands of some protesters. In his speech, Mr. Yanukovych vowed to uphold democratic principles and media freedoms, stating, “The main task of the government in the media sphere, as I have set it, is to create conditions when free press can develop freely and be independent of any kind of control.” Mr. Yanukovych called on journalists “to maintain a high level of ethical standards and uphold the principles of being objective and politically biased.” He Zenon Zawada apparently meant to say the opposite: unbiased. The Stryiskyi Park Collegium of the Ukrainian Catholic University will consist of a residential wing (left), already According to a report by the Associated Press, in completed, and the academic portion, to be completed by next year. opening the World Newspaper Congress, which brings intellectuals and journalists – in order to create an envi- together news executives from around the globe, by Zenon Zawada ronment where diverse people can communicate and Jacob Mathew, president of the World Association of Special to The Ukrainian Weekly learn from each other. Newspapers and News Publishers, urged Ukrainian authorities to “regain freedoms that sustain democra- LVIV – Bishop Borys Gudziak couldn’t contain his What distinguishes it most is the presence of 10 spe- cy and human dignity.” excitement when presenting the half-completed Stryiskyi cial-needs individuals in six rooms, which fulfills UCU’s Observers say press freedoms in Ukraine have Park Collegium of the Ukrainian Catholic University (UCU) identity as being an institution that serves those marginal- markedly declined since President Yanukovych came to the community that gathered there for a celebration on ized in society, Bishop Borys said. Collegium residents will to power in 2010. The AP noted that “opposition par- the evening of August 26. gain the spiritual lesson of serving those whom society ties have had little access to television, with the major- He was giving his address on an outdoor stage when, overlooks. ity of TV channels controlled by magnates loyal to the after his introductory remarks, he felt too far removed “Our friends aren’t those that need social pittances from government, reporters complain of being denied from his audience. As he took a giant leap off the stage, an us,” he said. “They will become for the students – just as access to crucial information, and a rising number of impressive feat for any 51-year-old, the newly consecrated they became for me already – professors of human rela- attacks on journalists are left unpunished.” bishop’s black robes and the headgear known as a “klo- tions. Students, teachers, teachers with families, nuns, World Newspaper Congress spokesman Larry buk” flapped in the air behind him. It gave him the appear- Kilman told the AP, “By choosing Ukraine as our ance of some kind of superhero in a cape. (Continued on page 12) venue, we stand in solidarity with the local indepen- “Western-type universities have existed 800, 900, dent press, and draw international attention to the sit- almost a thousand years, but there has never been a colle- uation here.” He added, “The protesters were a very gium at any of those universities quite like this one,” powerful reminder that there is still much to be done.” Bishop Borys, the acting rector of UCU, declared enthusias- On the eve of the congress, an open appeal – signed tically in his remarks to the several hundred gathered. by prominent journalists, human rights and civic Indeed the 7,500-square-foot Stryiskyi Park Collegium activists, writers and others – to President is the first building to emerge on a 10-acre plot that will Yanukovych and the international community was become the main campus for UCU. released on the website www.telekritika.ua. The It’s located in the shadows of Lviv’s grotesque State Tax September 2 statement demanded that Ukrainian Administration building on Stryiska Street on the city’s authorities stop the systematic destruction of the south side, about two miles from the university’s theologi- independent television channel TVi. As of September 6, the petition was signed by more than 1,600 individ- cal center, a 42-acre campus that was built under the lead- uals and representatives of organizations. ership of the Rev. Dr. Gudziak, then UCU rector, starting in The statement reads: 2002. “Over the last two years we have seen a reduction Students began living at the collegium’s residential half in these freedoms [freedom of speech and press free- on August 25. The academic portion will be completed dom] in Ukraine. Television has become monopolized next year. with a disproportionate amount of coverage given to It’s not the only university in Ukraine where students the point of view of those in power and the critical live side-by-side under the guidance of faculty, but certain- voices of the opposition and independent public mini- ly the only one where such faculty will have brought their mized. academic experience from places like Oxford and “However, what is taking place with the TVi chan- Cambridge universities. nel during the parliamentary election campaign is “For every 20 or 25 students, there’s a teacher, worker quite unprecedented. and administrator with a spouse, if he or she has one,” “The last television channel, TVi, where viewers Bishop Borys said. can still see a critical point of view about events in the The collegium has bigger distinctions. Three nuns will Ukrainian Catholic University Acting Rector Bishop live in the collegium. Four rooms are designated for high- (Continued on page 8) Borys Gudziak addresses the UCU community at the profile visitors to the university – such as artists, scholars, August 26 blessing of the Stryiskyi Park Collegium. 2 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2012 No. 37 ANALYSIS Ukrainian high court rejects Courts reject lawsuit on ballots February 27 found Mr. Lutsenko guilty of abuse of office and sentenced him to four KYIV – Kyiv’s Administrative Court of years in prison, with confiscation of his Yulia Tymoshenko appeal Appeal has rejected a lawsuit filed by the property. The verdict came into force on Batkivshchyna Party regarding the inclu- Parliament and Ms. Tymoshenko’s ally, told May 16. Mr. Lutsenko had been held in RFE/RL Ukrainian Service sion of the names of former Prime Minister Kyiv’s pre-trial detention center since RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service after the deci- Yulia Tymoshenko and former Internal December 26, 2010. (Ukrinform) KYIV – The Ukrainian Specialized sion. “However, it is obvious to politicians Affairs Minister Yurii Lutsenko on election Supreme Court has rejected former Prime and experts that this political case, which ballots. A resolution on the matter was Khoroshkovsky on Ukraine and EU Minister Tymoshenko’s appeal against her was launched with the goal of removing adopted on September 3 by the court’s abuse-of-office conviction and accompany- Ms. Tymoshenko from the political process, panel of judges headed by Judge Natalia KYIV – Ukraine’s Association Agreement ing seven-year jail sentence. ended in the court of appeals also as a Troyan, the party’s press service reported. with the European Union could be a corner- The high court handed down its ruling political case.” “Judges said that Yulia Tymoshenko and stone for the enlargement of the European in Kyiv on August 29. The former prime minister says she is Yurii Lutsenko have not acquired the status Union to the east, First Vice Prime Minister Ms. Tymoshenko has been imprisoned the victim of a political vendetta by Mr. of subjects of the electoral process, and Valeriy Khoroshkovsky said on September since her conviction in October in connec- Yanukovych, who defeated her in the 2010 5. Speaking during a panel titled “New tion with natural-gas deals reached with presidential election. therefore they cannot be included on ballots,” read the statement. A lawyer repre- Visions for Hard Times: Europe and the Russia when she was prime minister in Ms. Tymoshenko was a leader of the World Confronting the Crisis,” which is part 2009. 2004 Orange Revolution protests that senting the Batkivshchyna Party, Tamara Mazur, said after the court session that the of the 22nd Economic Forum being held in Ukrainian authorities say she over- derailed Yanukovych’s first bid for the pres- Krynica-Zdroj, Poland, Mr. Khoroshkovsky stepped her authority when she negotiated idency. party would challenge this decision at the Higher Administrative Court of Ukraine said, “The Association Agreement between the deal with Moscow, saddling Ukraine She also contends that no judicial review Ukraine and the EU could be the corner- with exhorbitant costs for the Russian ener- was conducted into her detention, that the within two days, and on September 6 the lower court’s ruling was upheld. On August stone for the European Union enlargement gy supplies that the country depends on. conditions of her confinement were inade- into Eastern Europe.

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