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Police Forcefully Dismantle Tent City

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Police Forcefully Dismantle Tent City INSIDE:• Ukrainian leaders’ message to the people — page 3. • Gongadze case now officially a murder investigation — page 4. • Congressional delegation visits Kyiv amid crisis — page 8. Published by the Ukrainian National Association Inc., a fraternal non-profit association Vol. LXIX HE KRAINIANNo. 9 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, MARCH 4, 2001 EEKLY$1/$2 in Ukraine TMoroz, visitingU U.S., paints Police forcefullyW dismantle tent city alarming picture of Ukraine Kuchma hails “absolutely proper decision” by Roman Woronowycz destruction of the tent city at a press confer- by Yaro Bihun painted an alarming picture of the cur- Kyiv Press Bureau ence on March 1: “I am happy that the Special to The Ukrainian Weekly rent state of affairs in Ukraine – includ- Kyiv government showed that it has author- ing the abuse of power and human KYIV – Several days after a third major ity. It was an absolutely proper decision.” WASHINGTON – The leader of the rights, officially sanctioned corruption demonstration in Kyiv in as many weeks He added, “It is unfortunate that the Ukrainian Socialist Party, Oleksander and rampant electronic surveillance. calling for the resignation of President deputies who are supposed to uphold the Moroz, came here last week to explain He also outlined his vision of what Leonid Kuchma, Ukrainian authorities on law, ignore it and go even further.” why the movement he helped organize needs to be done in order to preserve March 1 forcefully took apart the tent city Last week, on February 22, a Kyiv in the final months of last year wants to democracy in that country. “Ukraine that had come to symbolize the movement municipal court ruled in favor of a request oust Ukraine’s current president, Leonid today stands at a crossroad,” he said on and arrested more than 30 people. from the city administration that the tent Kuchma. the first day of his visit here. “It can The police action occurred just as the city be disbanded because it was a danger Mr. Moroz launched the ouster move become either a democratic country or a work day in Kyiv was beginning and to pedestrians and a health hazard. Since in late November 2000 when he played criminal dictatorship.” included scores of uniformed militia who then, members of the press and protesters paraded out of buses and proceeded to conversations secretly taped in the presi- Addressing a packed briefing room at had maintained a nightly watch. Although knock down and then gather the tents, the dent’s office on which Mr. Kuchma’s the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty on there had been talk on the day of the court flags and the banners, and heap them voice is heard discussing the removal of February 27, Mr. Moroz said that under- decision that the tents would be cleared out Heorhii Gongadze, an Internet journalist aboard waiting dump trucks. that night, most demonstrators had lying the current political crisis in As they worked, other law enforcement known for his criticism of the adminis- Ukraine was the usurpation of power by expressed a belief that authorities would tration. The journalist’s headless body officers beat and arrested several dozen of wait until after a U.S. congressional delega- the president and his closest allies, as the tent city’s inhabitants, who resisted the was later found not far from Kyiv. was revealed in some of the 300 hours of tion left Ukraine and after another mass Mr. Moroz, who was chairman of the effort and placed themselves before the rally took place on February 25. Verkhovna Rada from 1994 to 1998, (Continued on page 8) wheels of the trucks, while six busloads of On February 23, U.S. Rep. Bob Schaffer, reinforcements and a communications vehi- a member of the congressional delegation cle waited on the Khreschatyk and an who had visited the tent city, said that the adjoining street, which were closed to traf- worst thing government officials could do fic during that time. was to turn more attention to the demon- Weeklong celebrations in Rome mark National deputies and organizers of the strators by eliminating their place of protest. Ukraine Without Kuchma movement “People ought to lighten up about the expressed outrage at the action and called it tents this is a good thing,” said Mr. elevation of Cardinal Lubomyr Husar unlawful. Schaffer. by Marta Kolomayets warmth of the Roman sun. “This was done without basis or reason,” Oleksander Savchenko, the commander Special to The Ukrainian Weekly Significantly, Archbishop Major Husar said Andrii Shkil, the head of the paramili- of the militia unit on the scene, explained wore the hooded black cloak of his Studite ROME – Archbishop Major Lubomyr tary organization UNA-UNSO, which was after the clean-up operation was completed monastic order, adorned with gold ribbons guarding the tents. He also issued a veiled that he had received his orders after a Husar, primate of the Ukrainian Greek- etched in red silk threads, thus emphasizing Catholic Church worldwide, was elevated warning: “The government’s action unties reassertion from the local court the previous the uniqueness of the Eastern Church. our hands. Now we can call the nation to evening that it had the right to remove the to the rank of cardinal by Pope John Paul II He and two patriarchs from the Eastern in St. Peter’s Square on Wednesday morn- another form of protest.” Twenty-three tents. Rite, Moussa I Doud of Syria (now the pre- members of his organization were arrested Four days earlier, on February 25, the ing, February 21. fect for the Congregation of Eastern in the clean-up operation. tent city and much of the Khreschatyk was He was one of 44 cardinals – the largest Churches) and Stephanos II of Alexandria, Several national deputies said the the site of a mass rally, which organizers number in history – who took part in an did not receive the traditional red skullcap destruction of the tent city was a violation ecclesiastical assembly, known as a consis- and cardinal’s biretta, a silk-covered square of their rights as lawmakers. Several of (Continued on page 4) tory, for the creation of new cardinals. hat with no brim, from the holy father. them, chiefly from the Socialist and More than 30,000 people witnessed this Batkivschyna parties, as well as a few regal two-hour outdoor ceremony under the (Continued on page 14) from the Ukrainian National Rukh Party, had taken responsibility for all the tents Tape analysis yields since the encampment was constructed at the beginning of February. Because national deputies have immunity from inconclusive results criminal prosecution, they maintained that by Roman Woronowycz no one could touch the tents. Twice city Kyiv Press Bureau officials had retreated from attempts to KYIV – An independent analysis of clear the tent city. audio recordings that could implicate National Deputy Yurii Karmazyn, speak- President Leonid Kuchma in various crimi- ing minutes after the tents had been cleared, nal acts, including complicity in the murder pointed out that the action took place during of a Ukrainian journalist, has given mixed a time the Verkhovna Rada, within which results, according to a report released on there exists a strong element of support for February 27. Nonetheless, its authors said the anti-Kuchma movement, was not in ses- that, while there is no hope for an absolute- sion and national deputies were scattered ly conclusive result, indications are that – about the country working in their con- more likely than not – the tapes are real. stituencies. He also said the police action The report underscores that it is unlikely the marks the beginning of a new stage in the recordings could be used as evidence in a government’s handling of the opposition. court of law. “I think that the authorities are now The results, released on February 27, beginning a very serious attack on democ- AP explained that the recordings are of a type racy in all parts of Ukraine,” he said. “They that makes the probability of determining Cardinal Lubomyr Husar, primate of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, have nothing to lose. The tapes have docu- whether they were doctored or manipulated embraces Pope John Paul II at St. Peter’s Square on February 22, on the second mented their criminal behavior.” day of the consistory. President Kuchma commented on the (Continued on page 9) 2 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, MARCH 4, 2001 No. 9 ANALYSIS NEWSBRIEFSNEWSBRIEFS Presidents Vladimir Putin and George W. Bush, Deputy accuses NATO of bugging testify to the fact that an “oligarchic majori- ty” has been formed in the Verkhovna KYIV – National Deputy Bohdan Boiko, Rada. Addressing the Parliament on and the National Missile Defense Program a leader of the Popular Movement for February 22, Mr. Matvienko congratulated by Dr. David Marples The fact that so many officials of the late Unity, told journalists on February 27 that Rada Chairman Ivan Pliusch on the forma- Cold War era have returned under the President Leonid Kuchma’s office was tion of that majority. “I warn you against a The new defense and security team new Bush leadership adds weight to the bugged by “special services of one or sever- threat of losing [our] independence. The put together by President George W. Russian concerns. al NATO countries,” Interfax reported. hundred [lawmakers] who voted [for Bush appears to have posed some imme- On the other hand, the furor over the “The famous digital recorder of Maj. Potebenko’s ouster] is part of the [real] diate problems for the Putin administra- NMD owes at least something to dis- [Mykola] Melnychenko has nothing to do opposition and pro-Ukrainian force,” Mr.
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