What is especially astonishing about this dismissal is that Hudyma based his suit on the same arguments used by the Donetsk Administrative Court of Appeals, which, on April 21 upheld an appeal by of Donetsk Medical University Professor of Donetsk Medical University Anatoliy Soloviev that withdrew the Hero of Ukraine title from Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) Commander-in-Chief Roman Shukhevych on the grounds that Shukhevych was not a citizen of Ukraine, since Ukraine did not exist as a state. The Donetsk Circuit Administrative Court used the same arguments to remove Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists Leader Stepan Bandera Hero status.
Does that now mean that the Donetsk Court’s decision is now invalid. We believe pro-democracy activists should now challenge that decision on the grounds that a higher court has ruled that Hero status isn’t deone is law for those who gave their lives in defence of Ukraine’s freedom, and another for those who enslaved the country.
And this is supposed to be an independent Ukraine?
While decisions as to who gets “Hero of Ukraine” status may be symbolic, the fact that courts can apply two completely contradictory rulings, dependent upon the whims of the ruling party in power blows to smithereens the myth of the independence of the judiciary. This is a process which began the day the Constitutional Court of Ukraine allowed President Yanukovych to form an unconstitutional government, which proceeded to unconstitutionally allow a foreign power to maintain a base on Ukraine sovereign territory and unconstitutionally undermine the Ukrainian language.
When the judiciary become the puppets of the regime, then democracy and the rule of law goes out the window.
Mind you there are some notable exceptions. (As the saying goes, however, exceptions that prove the rule.) In a most surprising ruling that same Donetsk Court of Appeals has rescinded a 2006 law passed by the Donetsk Oblast Council aimed at promoting the Russian language. Whether that decision will stand remains to be seen.
In addition, a Kyiv court on Aug. 16 postponed for 10 days its ruling over television frequencies – an action widely cited to come about as a result of mounting foreign criticism of Ukrainian authorities for restrictions on the freedom of speech.
So all is not yet totally lost. The Yanukovych regime is sensitive to world opinion as was the USSR it holds so dear in its hearts. Therefore pressure by Western democracies to reverse the attempts to curtail the independence of the judiciary, freedom of expression and other fundamental democratic values, must be stepped up.
As we, in the diaspora, approach the 19thanniversary of Ukraine’s independence, this is a message we have to send our respective governments. Keep up the pressure. Make the Yanukovych regime aware that the curtailment of basic freedoms must not be permitted, that the independence of the judiciary must be preserved, that freedom of expression must be maintained, that changing election laws to ensure the uninterrupted rule of the party of power is not acceptable.
And, as the words of the national anthem declare: “Ukraine has not died yet”. Let’s do the most to ensure that remains so, and let our own elected representatives know what we think the Canadian government should be doing about this.
Marco Levytsky is the editor and publisher of Ukrainian News, a bi-weekly newspaper distributed across Canada.
