INSIDE: • Rule of law in retreat in Yanukovych’s Ukraine – page 2. • Volodymyr Viatrovych on “excising” Ukrainian history – page 8. • Annual swim meet at Soyuzivka Heritage Center – page 13. THEPublished U by theKRAINIAN Ukrainian National Association Inc., a fraternal Wnon-profit associationEEKLY Vol. LXXVIII No. 42 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2010 $1/$2 in Ukraine Bus-train collision in Ukraine kills 43 Legitimacy of elections in doubt as rules changes are questioned by Zenon Zawada Kyiv Press Bureau KYIV – Ukraine’s local elections on October 31 have begun to lose their legitimacy both domestically and within the international commu- nity, which has criticized rules that have tilted con- trol of election commis- sions in favor of the rul- ing Party of Regions of Ukraine. “At the given moment, we have the impression that your legislation doesn’t conform to international Oleksander Prylepa/UNIAN standards,” Gudrun Mosler- A view of the aftermath of the deadly collision between a passenger bus and a Ternstrem, an Austrian Oleksander Prokopenko/UNIAN train outside of Marhanets, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, Ukraine. election observer represent- Volodymyr Podriezov, a deputy of the Kyiv Oblast RFE/RL life” and urged tougher requirements for the ing the Council of Europe, Council, leads a hunger strike outside the Central told the Komersant-Ukraina “physical and psychological condition” of Election Committee. Batkivschyna party activists are KYIV – Officials say 43 people died and newspaper, published on demanding that election commissions register the real passenger vehicle drivers. several were seriously injured when a pas- October 13. “Already we candidates of Batkivschyna instead of the “clone candi- senger bus collided with a train in eastern Road and railway accidents are common have the impression that dates” that were officially registered. Ukraine. in Ukraine where the roads are in poor con- balance isn’t being The collision occurred on October 12 out- dition, vehicles are poorly maintained, and upheld in forming the territorial election Council Chair Anatolii Nesteruk of the side of the town of Marhanets in the drivers and passengers routinely disregard commissions.” Batkivschyna party was imprisoned and Dnipropetrovsk region. safety and traffic rules. Evidence reveals that the Party of denied his right to register for re-election, Ukraine’s Internal Affairs Ministry said Mr. Azarov said the tragedy highlighted Regions is once again employing illegal which he was expected to win handily. the death toll could increase. tactics to repress and intimidate opposi- The Internal Affairs Ministry said initial (Continued on page 1) tion forces. Kamianets-Podilskyi City (Continued on page 9) reports suggested the bus driver ignored or failed to hear a siren that indicated an oncoming train and attempted to cross the railroad tracks. Defying the government, marchers in Kyiv honor the UPA The ministry also quoted witnesses who said the bus’s engine stalled as the driver was by Zenon Zawada changing gears just as the vehicle was strad- Kyiv Press Bureau dling the tracks. It said the train dragged the bus along the tracks for about 30 meters KYIV – For the first time since Ukraine before coming to a stop. re-established its independence in 1991, the Transport Minister Kostiantyn Yefimenko government refused to issue a permit allow- told journalists in Kyiv what some survivors ing the annual march in Kyiv to honor the of the crash have been telling investigators. founding of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army “The bus was standing still. But then the (UPA) on the feast of St. Mary the driver took his seat and started driving right Protectress (Pokrova) on October 14. in front of the locomotive,” Mr. Yefimenko Nevertheless more than 2,000 Ukrainians said. “The surviving passengers are saying gathered at Shevchenko Park in central today that they were shouting to the driver Kyiv to express their admiration for the that the alarm had sounded and he shouldn’t UPA, an underground army formed in 1943 drive.” to fight against the Poles, Nazi Germans and A spokeswoman for the region’s traffic Soviet Communists for an independent police, Liudmila Bashmakova, described a Ukrainian state. scene of “utter carnage,” saying there were “It’s a complete lie when today’s Kremlin three children among the dead. She also said propagandists claim the UPA and the the driver of the intercity passenger bus vio- Ukrainian liberation struggle only applied to lated traffic laws by driving through a red western Ukraine and had nothing to do with light. central and eastern Ukraine,” said Andrii Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov Illyenko, chair of the Kyiv city organization announced the tragedy at the start of a of Svoboda. Zenon Zawada Cabinet of Ministers meeting, requesting a Defying the government, the Ukrainian minute of silence for the victims. patriots marched amidst rush hour traffic, More than 2,000 Ukrainians gathered at Shevchenko State University in Kyiv to Mr. Azarov told the Cabinet that the defy the government ban and march in honor of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, authorities should not “economize on human (Continued on page 16) formed on October 14, 1943. 2 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2010 No. 42 ANALYSIS NEWSBRIEFS Constitutionalism and rule of law Canadian PM extends condolences PGO reversal in Gongadze case OTTAWA – Canadian Prime Minister KYIV – The Procurator General’s in retreat in Yanukovych’s Ukraine Stephen Harper issued a statement on Office (PGO) has canceled its resolution by Taras Kuzio The court’s ruling has thrown Ukraine October 13, which was declared a to reject the opening of criminal cases Eurasia Daily Monitor into constitutional and legal chaos. The National Day of Mourning in Ukraine against former President Leonid Kuchma Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of after the tragic collision between a bus and and other politicians in the Heorhii Three recent episodes reflect the degree to Europe (PACE) issued a strongly worded train in Marhanets, Ukraine, killed 43 peo- Gongadze murder case. Deputy Procurator which the rule of law in Ukraine is under statement on “The functioning of democratic ple. Mr. Harper stated: “I was saddened to General Renat Kuzmin announced this on pressure from its already weak position after institutions in Ukraine” five days later that hear of the terrible accident which the Ukraina television channel on October five years of instability under former was voted through by 102 out of 109 mem- occurred today in eastern Ukraine. On 8. “The resolution to deny opening a crim- President Viktor Yushchenko. This growing bers, the highest majority vote ever recorded behalf of all Canadians, my wife Laureen inal case against former President Kuchma pressure on the rule of law comes after by PACE (http://assembly.coe.int/main. and I extend our deepest condolences to and some other politicians have been can- President Viktor Yanukovych has been in asp?Link=/documents/workingdocs/doc10/ the families and friends of the victims of celed,” he said. He said there is an order to office for only nine months. edoc12357.htm). this accident. It is especially tragic that a establish all persons involved in the mur- On September 14 the Procurator Constitutional-legal chaos arises from number of children were killed. We also der of the journalist. Mr. Kuzmin voiced General’s Office concluded that the only per- four questions following five years of wish the survivors of the crash a swift and hope that the PGO will manage to finalize son who ordered the murder of journalist Ukraine being under an “unconstitutional” full recovery. Our thoughts and prayers are the investigation into the case soon with Heorhii Gongadze in September 2000 was Constitution: with all Ukrainians on this day of mourn- absolutely different results. As reported Internal Affairs Minister Yurii Kravchenko. 1. Legislation will need to be amended. ing.” (Office of the Prime Minister) earlier, Judge Larysa Tsokol of the Kyiv Gongadze’s decapitated body was re-buried 2. Three elections (2006, 2007, 2010) Pecherskyi District Court, who was sched- in such a way for it to be found, as it was in were held under an “unconstitutional” Case of student’s death sent to court uled on October 7 to begin considering November 2000, leading to what became complaints from Valentyna Telichenko, Constitution. KYIV – The case of a Ukrainian stu- known as the Kuchmagate crisis. representative ad litem of Gongadze’s 3. Mr. Yanukovych was elected under the dent’s controversial death while in Kyiv Mr. Kravchenko allegedly committed sui- widow, Myroslava, against decisions to 2006 Constitution for five years but the pres- police custody has been sent to court, cide in March 2005 on the day he was set to close cases against former Mr. Kuchma, idential term was four years under the 1996 RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service reported. give evidence to the Procurator General’s Verkhovna Rada Chairman Volodymyr Constitution. The presidential office’s press service Office. Kravchenko’s “suicide” has been in Lytvyn and former security officer Mykola 4. Parliament was elected in 2007 for five said on October 11 that Procurator doubt ever since, as he died from two gun- Melnychenko, recused herself. She years, but the 1996 Constitution provides for General Oleksander Medvedko told shots to the head. The verdict has been ridi- announced that the PGO had appointed a four-year parliamentary term. President Viktor Yanukovych in a meet- culed by Mr. Kravchenko’s friends and foes Vladyslav Hryschenko to replace The court’s ruling and the threat of presi- ing that the case of Ihor Indyl’s death had alike as a whitewash orchestrated by its dential authoritarianism has for the first time Oleksander Kharchenko as the leader of organizers. been sent to the Kyiv City Court. Mr. the group of investigators investigating the raised the genuine possibility of unity among Indyl, 20, died in Kyiv’s Shevchenko dis- Volodymyr Melnykov, Gen.