Ukrainian “Liberty” goes underground

The day before yesterday, a group of people in civilian clothes turned inside out the office of Svoboda (Liberty) opposition newspaper, edited by young and very active editor Oleg Lyashenko. PRAVDA.Ru already told about the Svoboda circulation drowned in a river and about a repeated circulation which was simply arrested. The reason is that in the issue, there were materials about unlawful activities of Ukrainian Public Prosecutor General, Mikhail Potebenko. Though, this was not the end of Oleg Lyashko’s misfortunes. Tuesday morning, Oleg Lyashenko was detained by the police and transported to the district public prosecutor’s office of Kiev. A resolution of I.Babenko, deputy chief of investigation department of Cherkassy region public prosecutor’s office, was presented to him, calling Oleg Lyashko to an interrogation. According to Svoboda, in the regional public prosecutor’s office, acting public prosecutor Yury Yaroshenko informed Lyashenko that an action has been brought against him March 23. Lyashenko was accused of resistance to law-enforcers and of abuse of power. For the whole day of April 9, documents were being seized from Svoboda office. In particular, constituent agreement, authorized documents of the edition, agreements about printing and spreading of the newspaper, certificate of Svoboda registration were seized. “The reason, why the action was brought, is published in 11th number of the newspaper deputy inquiry of people’s deputies Grigory Omelchenko, Anatoly Yermak and Viktor Shishkin. In particular, the deputies wrote about 600,000 grivnas (approximately $ 3,450) received as a bribe by Ukrainian Public Prosecutor General Mikhail Potebenko from Alexandr Volkov,” – Ukrainian information agencies report. “Of course, we have shown resistance, - Oleg Lyashko said, - because seizing of the circulation without the court’s sentence is illegal.” Yesterday, after having left the public prosecutor’s office, Oleg Lyashko said to his friends and to journalists he was forced to hide himself from pursuit of Public Prosecutor General Mikhail Potebenko. He is said to know that “a special group” had just left Cherkassy and was going to arrest him. “Then I have to stay in Cherkassy detention cell and to prove I am not guilty, - Lyashko said, while adding that now his “lawyers occupy themselves with the case,” while he was forced to hide himself. Yesterday, Oleg Lyashko reported through an Internet-edition, that the Public Prosecutor General’s Office tried to close his newspaper soever. According to Lyashko, workers of the Office seized the newspaper’s documents. He also reported that he still hid himself from law-enforcers, though he was sure of the newspaper’s next issue being issued in time.

Alexandr Gorobets PRAVDA.Ru Kiev Ukraine

Translated by Vera Solovieva

http://www.pravda.ru/main/2002/04/10/39534.html