Saturday, June 18, 2011

Another example of "Ukrainian justice"

In April I posted a blog about a 20-year old student, Hanna Sinkova, who together with some friends, fried some eggs and sausages on the Eternal Flame Memorial in Kyiv's 'Park of Eternal Glory', as part of an artistic event /prank /demonstration, call it what you will,.

The students were protesting about the wasteful consumption of gas at the memorial at a time when many WW2 veterans are receiving meagre pensions and living on the 'bread line'.

Absolutely no damage was caused to the bronze and stone memorial, and it is highly debatable whether the behaviour of the students, as recorded on this video, could be considered in any way loutish or abusive.

Yesterday, a Kyiv court ordered Sinkova be detained in jail for a further period at least until the next court session at the end of June.

Sinkova, who has been in prison for nearly three months, is charged with desecration of a grave [even though, apparently, no-one is buried there]. She claims to have been maltreated, threatened with violence, and subjected to unlawful interrogations [not difficult to believe]. If found guilty the poor girl could face up to five years in prison.

In matters of law Ukraine frequently seems closer to Tehran than Europe.

Someone recently said: "So Ukraine wants to move toward Europe...right now they're not even in the position to catch a tram to the edge of town...

p.s. The recent Covington and Burling preliminary report, in English, on two of the charges being faced by Yulia Tymoshenko, here

The pdf report by the US Trout Charteris and Akin Gumps on Tymoshenko's alleged maladministration during her period in office, in English, is here

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