THEH Published U by theKRAINIAN Ukrainian National Association Inc., a fraternal W non-profit associationEEKLY Vol. LXXXVII No. 16 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, APRIL 21, 2019 $2.00 Defective justice system blamed Presidential challenger Zelensky for release of coup suspect Savchenko campaigns online only, leads in polls by Mark Raczkiewycz ment quarter of Kyiv,” he said. Mr. Ruban was detained on March 8, KYIV – Attempted coup suspect Nadiya 2018, at a checkpoint in the Donbas while Savchenko, a lawmaker, and her alleged co- returning to Ukrainian-controlled territory conspirator Volodymyr Ruban were with a cache of weapons from Russian- released from custody on April 15 after their occupied territory. He was placed under pre-trial detention term expired and wasn’t arrest the following day. extended in a Brovary city district court. In a Facebook post on April 16, Mr. She is suspected of plotting to overthrow Lutsenko laid the blame for their release the government and planning terrorist acts. primarily on the country’s dysfunctional If found guilty, Ms. Savchenko, 37, faces a court system. maximum life sentence on all charges com- One of three reasons he named is the bined, according to the Prosecutor legal ability to constantly change lawyers to General’s Office (PGO). draw out the judicial process. Ms. Mr. Ruban, who ran the Officer Corps cen- Savchenko has so far had nine lawyers rep- ter for freeing prisoners of war, is suspected resent her, eight of whom were paid, while of illicit handling of weapons and plotting one was a public defender. terrorist attacks, including armed attacks on Eleven courts so far have heard their state officials and political leaders, the state- Mykhailo Markiv/Pool case, according to the prosecutor general. President Petro Poroshenko at Olympic Stadium on April 14. His opponent, run Ukrinform news agency reported. “An appeal to even one judge leads to the The duo’s April 15 custody extension Volodymyr Zelensky, did not show up, insisting that the debate at the stadium should transfer of a case to another court,” because take place on April 19. hearing was postponed until May 7 after the court system has 40 percent of unfilled Mr. Ruban’s defense lawyer didn’t appear in vacancies, Mr. Lutsenko said. He described by Mark Raczkiewycz Rating Sociological Group has conducted court. They were released because their the constant change of courts as a game of since the March 31 first-round vote. confinement period expired at midnight on “soccer.” KYIV – The race for Ukraine’s presidency As he consistently ducked journalists, April 15-16. The Savchenko-Ruban case has tra- has turned into a show, and its chief specta- Mr. Zelensky has conveyed messages Ms. Savchenko was placed in custody on versed the following courts: Supreme cle is a comedian performer who has not through virtual platforms on Facebook, March 22, 2018, after parliament voted to Court, Chernihiv district and appellate once in nearly five months of campaigning Twitter, Instagram and the Telegram cell- strip her of immunity from prosecution on courts, back to the Supreme Court, publicly appeared before voters, choosing phone application. the same day. Prosecutor General Yuriy Solomyanskyi district court, Kyiv appellate instead to engage them in the realm of These include videos of him bravely Lutsenko had presented a 30-minute video court, back to the Supreme Court, Kyiv online social media. challenging Mr. Poroshenko to a policy in the legislature showing her plotting to appellate court, Darnytskyi district court, Also highly selective of the limited inter- debate and images of him taking a doping use weapons allegedly purchased in the Kyiv appellate court and the Brovary dis- views he has given to journalists, front-run- test at a laboratory owned by his associate. Moscow-occupied Donbas from Russian trict court. ner Volodymyr Zelensky, 41, is the favorite Other appearances include him in an officers and their proxies to commit “ter- ahead of incumbent Petro Poroshenko, rorist acts… and create chaos in the govern- (Continued on page 14) according to two successive polls that the (Continued on page 8) Fire destroys cultural center in Hamilton, Ontario PARSIPPANY, N.J. – The Ukrainian Cultural Ms. Zariczniak said the loss was not only of a Center of Hamilton, Ontario, was destroyed by a place of memories but the hall itself dates back fire that began in the early hours of Saturday, even further to when it was a movie theater. The April 13. center, she added, was not only a place for Yura Ivanovo and his wife, Larysa Zariczniak, Ukrainians, but for the whole community, which were among the first on the scene at 3 a.m. that utilized it for various events. morning after receiving a phone call about the “Ukrainian Canadian Congress Hamilton disaster, when the center had filled with heavy Branch sadly reports about a fire in the Ukrainian smoke. Cultural Center (Hamilton) last night [April 13]. “I basically just started crying because I spent The building burned down completely. Some all my youth there. Basically my entire youth was archival documents burned down too,” wrote spent in that building,” Ms. Zariczniak, 36, told Antonina Kumka, president of the Canada- Laura Clementson of the Canadian Broadcasting Ukraine Inter national Assistance Fund, on Corporation (CBC). “The building housed us from Facebook on April 13. when we were infants. Friendships were made Deputy Fire Chief John Verbeek told the CBC, there,” she said. Ms. Zaricznaik is president of the “The building can be considered a total loss.” Ukrainian Youth Association branch in Hamilton. There were no injuries, he said, but damage was She said the center was the place where she extensive, estimated at approximately $2 million. learned more about her Ukrainian culture after The building’s roof collapsed as a result of the fire. immigrating to Canada from Poland at the age of 6. The Hamilton Fire Department received a call On Fridays, while in high school, she attended about the fire at 12:21 a.m. and the first crews to lessons about Ukrainian history, literature and Yura Ivanovo arrive on scene confirmed that there was a fire on geography. On Tuesdays she would practice play- Fire and smoke rise from the Ukrainian Cultural Center of Hamilton, ing the bandura. Ontario, (left of the Buduchnist Credit Union). (Continued on page 10) 2 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, APRIL 21, 2019 No. 16 ANALYSIS Putin’s Russia symbolically re-enacts Kyiv: Russian terror group thwarted the conflict in eastern Ukraine was “a core part of our estrangement with Russia.” In an Ukrainian authorities say they have interview with RFE/RL’s Russian Service Stalin’s push into Europe arrested seven people they claim were sent published on April 13, Ambassador by Russian security services to carry out Huntsman also called on Russia to “engage by Pavel Felgenhauer super-rich elite that is socially and physically political killings and other “terrorist” acts, in a helpful process that will allow the peo- Eurasia Daily Monitor as remote from the impoverished populace as the French aristocracy was from the com- including the slaying of Ukrainian intelli- ple of Ukraine to see their nation restored.” On April 10 at 10 p.m., fireworks lit up the mon French subject in 1789. Since 2014, the gence agents. Security Service of Ukraine He noted: “We do care deeply about the ter- Moscow sky and a gun salute thundered Russian economy has suffered stagnation (SBU) chief Vasyl Hrytsak made the ritorial integrity of Ukraine, which has been through the city (Vzglyad, April 10). Gun five years in a row, and the inflation-correct- announcement on April 17, four days ahead badly violated,” and added that Moscow’s salutes are a traditional way to commemo- ed average household income has been of Ukraine’s presidential runoff vote. At a 2014 “annexation of Crimea and the ongo- rate important, mostly military-connected steadily declining. This decline has not led to news conference, Mr. Hrytsak said the SBU ing conflict in eastern Ukraine… – it has not Russian holidays, but April 10 was a working serious protests so far, but the resulting thwarted “a sabotage and reconnaissance been resolved. Nothing has been done in Wednesday and not a marked-out holiday. It growing mass political apathy could sud- terrorist group of the Russian special servic- terms of positive steps toward recreating turned out Moscow was celebrating the 75th denly erupt into social and political chaos. es” that consisted of seven people, all of the contours of a whole and free Ukraine….” anniversary of the liberation of Odesa from According to the independent pollster whom have been arrested. One person who The U.S. envoy also stated: “It is time to get German Nazi troops in April 1944. In the Levada Center, up to 85 percent of Russians assisted the group was arrested on April 17, to the negotiating table and find some solu- final two years of World War II, victorious are not interested in “political matters,” he said, but it was not clear if that was in tions, which has not been the case for the Red Army forces marched westward, push- which is typical for authoritarian regimes addition to the other seven. The SBU chief last many year. Mr. Huntsman said that ing the Nazis out of Soviet territory and into (Levada.ru, April 8). According to the poll- said that since early 2017 the Russian secu- maintaining sanctions against Russia is one Eastern Europe. At that time, the liberation ing firm TsIRKON, Russian society has been rity services had sent several “autonomously of the few matters on which both major U.S. of major European cities was joyously atomized into small social groups, with no operating” sabotage groups into parts of political parties agree.