80
Concerns in Europe: January - June 2001
AI Index: EUR 01/003/2001
Amnesty International September 2001
kicked protestors may have violated the principle of
proportionality of force and ill-treated the detainees.
AI also expressed concern about allegations that
police officers ill-treated protestors during a
demonstration on 9 March 2001 in Kyiv. Several
hundred protestors reportedly attempted to prevent
President Kuchma from gaining access to the Talas
Shevchenko monument in Kyiv in order to lay a
wreath. The protest became violent after protestors
reportedly threw missiles at police officers and police
officers responded using force, resulting in the
subsequent hospitalization of protestors and police
officers. Approximately 200 demonstrators were
reportedly arrested during the demonstration. A
number of protestors have alleged that they had not
acted violently and were ill-treated by police officers
for demonstrating peacefully. AI requested to be
informed whether an investigation has been initiated
into the allegations and to be informed of its findings.
Regional intergovernmental bodies
In the light of the overall deteriorating state of
freedom of expression and assembly Ukraine came
under criticism from abroad. In its report Honoring of
obligations and commitments by Ukraine the
Committee on the Honoring of Obligations by
Member States of the Council of Europe expressed
concerns in its report "about the state of civil rights in
Ukraine. They [the co-rapporteurs] “deplore the
continuing reprisals, threats, and implicit threats of
reprisal against those media, journalists, and other
Ukrainians who dare to speak their minds openly and
freely on the current crisis”.
30
The co-rapporteurs
urged “... the Ukrainian authorities to put an end to the
practice of intimidation and repression of opposition
politicians and the independent press, and to take all
necessary measures to discourage and curb attacks and
threats
against
journalists
and
other
media
representatives.”
31
In relation to the apparent “disappearance” of
Georgiy Gongadze the co-rapporteurs “repeat[ed]
their serious misgivings regarding the handling of the
investigation by the Ukrainian authorities into the
death”
32
, stating that “... only a credible investigation
of Mr Gongadze’s murder
and of all the evidence that
has emerged from the case can restore the country’s
image.”
33
Human rights defenders
AI expressed concern about reports that members of
AI’s Ukrainian Association were summonsed by the
police to be interviewed in connection with a petition
about alleged violations of the United Nations (UN)
Convention on the Rights of the Child in Pakistan. As
part of its campaigning activities, the Ukrainian
Association of AI drew up a petition on the issue and
collected signatures in various Ukrainian cities and
towns. At a later date the various petitions were sent
with letters to the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, highlighting AI’s concerns in Pakistan in
relation to violations of the UN Convention on the
Rights of the Child.
The organization learned that members of the
Ukrainian Association of AI in Lviv, Cherkassy
Oblast (region) and Drogobych were summoned by
their local police on various dates during the second
half of April, and asked to make statements about the
organization’s activities in relation to Pakistan. The
police asked for the personal details of all the
signatories of the petitions, not all of whom are
members of AI, reportedly with the aim of
interviewing them. The impetus for the action against
the members of the Ukrainian Association of AI and
the signatories of the petition is believed to have come
from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
AI wrote to the Ukrainian authorities in May,
expressing concern that its members have been called
in for questioning by the police, apparently on account
of their human rights related activities and stated that
such activities may amount to the unwarranted
30
Doc. 9030, Honouring obligations and commitments by
Ukraine, 9 April 2001 - paragraph 39
31
ibid. - paragraph 76
intimidation of human rights defenders in the country.
AI also requested to be informed of the legal basis of
such action. At the end of the period under
consideration no reply had been received from the
Ukrainian authorities.
U N I T E D
K I N G D O M
E N G L A N D A N D W A L E S
Update on the reform of the investigation
system into serious police misconduct
On the occasion of the second round of consultation
on the Home Office document “Complaints Against
the Police - Framework for a New System”, issued in
December 2000, AI submitted its comments on the
government’s proposals to the Home Secretary. While
welcoming the government's decision to reform the
current system for investigating allegations of police
officers carrying out human rights violations,
including unlawful killings, ill-treatment, and racism,
AI said that the proposed investigatory body, the
Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC),
must be seen to be independent of the police force in
32
ibid - paragraph 35
33
ibid - paragraph 36