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Exploring Ukraine #8 (102) August 2016 How economic decline and war Why privatization How Ukrainian Avant-garde started affect crime scene in Ukraine of Odesa Port Plant failed and ended in the 1920s EXPLORING UKRAINE WWW.UKRAINIANWEEK.COM Featuring selected content from The Economist FOR FREE DISTRIBUTION CONTENTS | 3 BRIEFING NEIGHBOURS 4 General test: What will follow the 25 Old faultlines: arrest of the odious ex-Regional How tensions over Erdogan affect Oleksandr Yefremov Turkish minority in Germany POLITICS 26 What are we fighting for? 7 Oleksiy Donskiy: “Sometimes lawyers Philippe de Lara on where European defending a lower level official are politicians are wrong on current protecting the interests challenges of the kingpin” 29 Calm after the storm: Senior GPU prosecutor Ghia Nodia of the Caucasus on investigation of crimes Institute for Peace, Democracy and by ex-prosecutor Viktor Pshonka and Development on Georgia’s domestic interference with his work political scene and voters’ preferences in the run-up to elections ECONOMICS 32 In search of a Suliko: 10 Just not yet: Why Odesa Port Plant Kornely Kakachia from the Georgian privatization auction failed Institute of Politics on what shapes 12 We can’t—or we won’t? Georgia’s foreign policy and how How Ukraine’s imports changed people perceive it at home in the past two years 34 The once and future kings of Georgia: SOCIETY A short history of attempts to restore 16 What they’re saying and showing: the Georgian monarchy The Ukrainian Week looks at the FOCUS editorial policies and ideological 38 Handmade tourism: positions of Ukrainian media outlets Where to go for authentic and 18 The new era of crime: unusual experiences in Ukraine How the past two years have changed 42 Museums of enthusiasm: Ukraine’s crime scene How amateurs build unique 20 A spinoff of war: collections of art and artifacts How war veterans and volunteers in their hometowns become criminals 45 The pain of changes: 22 Ditte Marcher: “When a soldier Travel blogger Bogdan Logvynenko returns home, it doesn't mean that on Ukraine’s underappreciated tourist he is at home already” potential and the role of locals Director of Bodynamic International in keeping it that way and the founder of a rehabilitation CULTURE & ARTS program for the military on 46 The rise and fall of Avant-garde: understanding of war, forgiveness, An artistic provocation of the 1920s and ways to cope with the trauma that outraged the proletariat E-mail [email protected] www.ukrainianweek.com Tel. (044) 351-13-00 The Ukrainian Week #8 (102) August 2016 Editors address 37 Mashynobudivna str., Kyiv, 03067, Ukraine Founder ECEM Media GmbH. Publisher ECEM Media GmbH Print run 15 000. Free distribution Address Austria, Am Gestade,1, 1010 Vienna Our partner State registration certificate КВ № 19823-9623ПР 19.03.2013 Chief Editor Dmytro Krapyvenko Editors Anna Korbut, Lidia Wolanskyj #8 (102) August 2016| THE UKRAINIAN WEEK THE UKRAINIAN WEEK | #8 (102) August 2016 BRIEFING General test Stanislav Kozliuk igh-profile arrests have been expected for a very long time. For over two years now, Ukrainians have been demanding punishment for those in power who were guilty of es- calating events on the Maidan and then the war in Donbas. The question “Why aren’t the HRegionals being punished?” is hotter than ever, and it’s only recently that the Prosecutor General’s Office has tried to answer it. Now Oleksandr Yefremov, ex-Head of Luhansk Oblast State Administration, then First Deputy Head of the Party of Regions and generally one of the more odious ex-Regionals, is sitting in jail awaiting trial. “I want to cry with all my heart that I’m not guilty,” Oleksandr Yefremov whines from his cell in the stuffy hall. “It’s impossible when the entire state machine is working against you.” The one- time head of the Party of the Regions faction in the Verkhovna Rada is now the #1 suspect in a case over separatism. Yefremov is unlikely to get used to being in the defendant’s seat. In winter 2014-15, when Vik- tor Shokin was the Prosecutor General, they tried to arrest him for the show-of-hands vote on the “draconian laws” on January 16, 2014. At that time, Yefremov was incriminated for overstepping his authority and stirring inter-ethnic enmity. But by February, he was released under bail and KOZLIUK STANISLAV BY PHOTO fitted with an electronic bracelet. Later, the fine print in Ukrainian laws allowed Yefremov to get #8 (102) August 2016| THE UKRAINIAN WEEK 6 | BRIEFING | rid of even that, get back his passport and freely move This was probably the first hint that “cutting a deal” around in Ukraine. with the justice system did not work this time. So it Later he was jailed once again. On July 30, 2016, at looks as though the PGO has actually managed to put 07:28, he was removed from an Austrian Airlines flight together some more-or-less serious evidence of Yefre- enroute to Vienna and arrested right in Boryspil Airport. mov’s guilt in events from two years ago. Here, there is This time, he was accused by the Prosecutor General of his likely role in the takeover of Oblast State Adminis- far more serious crimes: acting in a way to change the ter- tration and SBU buildings in Luhansk (see The surren- ritorial boundaries of Ukraine, providing organizational der of Luhansk SBU at ukrainianweek.com for more and other support at the time when LNR was emerging, details), and in organizing demonstrations in support of and, for the icing on the cake, of stealing assets belonging Donbas joining Russia. to LuhanskVuhillia, the regional coal association. Testimony about these events began to come from Had the accusations been limited to just this last Tornado, the scandalous volunteer battalion, in particu- item, Mr. Yefremov might have easily expected that he lar Mykola Tsukur. They claim that their first testimony would once again be released on bail and the familiar from 2014 mysteriously disappeared from the military little bracelet on his arm. However, infringing on the prosecutor’s office. And now the GPO has to reconstruct territorial integrity of the country was a far more seri- them. The Tornado witnesses also clamed that Yefre- ous accusation. At this point, there was no alternative to mov’s people tried to negotiate with them, but they re- detention in a pre-trial facility, known as SIZO in Ukrai- fused to cooperate. Not long ago, another ex-PR deputy nian. The intriguing question at the court hearing this and Yefremov’s fellow homeboy, Volodymyr Landik, time was just one: Would the former PR leader walk free showed up again. In his recent comments to the press, this time and how would he manage that? There were Landik has openly accused Yefremov of being a princi- two possible options: violations of procedure during the pal in these crimes. arrest of the politician which would allow the infamous After the fiasco of their first delaying tactics, Yefre- Pechersk Court to let the suspect go free, or a simple de- mov’s lawyers decided to try another approach: they lay in the process. In the second case, the lawyers had to proposed examining the evidence presented to the PGO drag the court hearing out until the morning of August and, if possible, interrogating witnesses. This would 2. That would pass the 72-hour time limit during which have meant the court not only working until dawn but preventive measures with regard to the suspect needed actually sitting without interruption in the courtroom to be decided and Yefremov would then be free as the for several days. The folks in the black gowns did not wind in the Luhansk steppes. agree to this and remained implacable: the norms of the Criminal Procedural Code stated that when selecting preventive measures, there was no obligation to engage THE EX-PR LEADER IN THE RADA HAS BEEN SENTENCED in a detailed review of the materials of the case. At this, TO TWO MONTHS IN THE SIZO. HE HAS LITTLE REASON the court withdrew to the deliberation chambers. It be- came clear that, unless Yefremov suddenly became sick TO FEEL OPTIMISTIC BECAUSE HIS CASE IS INTENDED TO and an ambulance appeared on the scene, by evening he BE A DEMONSTRATION would be in an SBU detention cell. Perhaps the situation would have changed had there been any associates of the Luhansk Regional, but not For the PGO, this arrest was an all-or-nothing move. one PR or Opposition Bloc deputy showed up. At pre- If it won, that is, if it got to arrest the odious Regional, vious hearings, Yefremov’s support group included Na- the PGO could get to wear a big star for “downing a pilot” talia Korolevska, Yuriy Voropayev, Tetiana Bakhteyeva, and show everyone who had accused it of doing noth- and Mykhailo Dobkin, but this time the “boss of Lu- ing to investigate so many cases related to separatism, hansk Country” was left pretty much on his own with that it had put a blue-and-white politician behind bars. the prosecutors. The overwhelming impression was In other words, “We may be working slowly, but we’re that his former comrades had decided to write off their working. Expect more arrests.” colleague. Instead, the room was filled with his oppo- But if the PGO lost and Yefremov was released, there nents: Narodniy Front’s Andriy Levus and Yuriy Ber- would not have been enough fingers on the hands in all eza, Samopomich’s Semen Semenchenko and Svoboda’s four sides of the courtroom to calculate the loss of repu- Yuriy Levchenko.
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