Chernihiv praised and scolded for peaceful protests

Chernihiv region has one of the best situations with respect for the right to peaceful protest compared to other regions of Ukraine. However, there is a dangerous trend of increasing the number of unjust court injunctions. This was stated on January 25, 2013 at the Expert Club “Clean Politics” by human rights activists from the All-Ukrainian initiative “For Peaceful Protest!” during the round table “Freedom of Peaceful Assembly: European Principles and Ukrainian Realities”.

The round table was attended by experts on freedom of assembly in Ukraine, representatives of the Chernihiv Regional State Administration, Chernihiv City Council, judges of the administrative court, representatives of local media, public organizations and movements.

Human rights activist, chairman of the board of the NGO “Institute Republic” Volodymyr Chemerys noted that according to the Unified State Register of Court Decisions, in Chernihiv region in 2012 there were 3 court bans on peaceful protests, while in Kharkiv region there were 103. However, in 2011 there was only one ban in Chernihiv region.

According to Volodymyr Chemerys, such decisions of the Chernihiv District Administrative Court are unjust, since they were based only on assumptions about the danger of violence during peaceful assemblies. “The reality of such a danger should be confirmed by facts,” the human rights activist is sure.

Expert of the VMGO “Regional Initiatives Foundation” Mykhailo Lebed added that in Ukraine there is a sad practice of only extreme measures of court reaction to protests – 88.2% of cases on peaceful assemblies in 2012 in the courts of first instance ended with bans. “However, Article 39 of the Constitution of Ukraine says that the court can not only ban, but also limit a problematic protest in a certain way,” says Mykhailo Lebed. “For example, limit only the place or time of the rally. That is, not allow the protest to be held only in a certain place or at a certain time, but not ban it at all.”

Executive Director of the Chernihiv Public Committee for the Protection of Human Rights Viktor Tarasov noted that the Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the Chernihiv region ignored this round table on the topic of peaceful assemblies, although representatives of the Department were invited.

The roundtable participants also noted that during political protests in Chernihiv, sometimes there are fights between representatives of different political forces, but the police officers present at such actions ignore their obligations and do not stop hooliganism. The participants of the event also discussed the implementation of the right to peaceful assembly in Chernihiv. Human rights experts shared their successful experience in appealing against anti-constitutional local regulatory legal acts and unjust court decisions restricting the freedom of peaceful assembly, as well as their experience in resisting repression by law enforcement agencies.

FOR REFERENCE:

The All-Ukrainian Initiative “For Peaceful Protest!” – a non-governmental, non-partisan public movement that was formed in 2011 and has already united around itself public activists and a coalition of 96 organizations that have been dealing with the issues of peaceful assembly or exercising the right to protest for many years. The initiative’s activists have collected more than 18 thousand signatures in defense of the freedom of peaceful protests in Ukraine, and have already held dozens of round tables in the country’s regional centers, starting a dialogue with the authorities on the importance of the fundamental right of people to peaceful assembly. Read more about the All-Ukrainian Initiative “For Peaceful Protest!”, as well as about the situation with the observance of the right to peaceful assembly in detail on the website – www.zmina.org.ua.