Andrei Lubenskoy: People’s tribunal lies ahead of Ukrainian President

It has been announced the action “People’s tribunal against Kuchma” will take place in Ukraine February, 24. Ukrainian Social Party will be a plaintiff. The arrangers of the action claim that the “tribunal” will be conducted in accordance with all the regulations: there will be a board of judges, spokesmen for prosecution and defence, etc. The accusation was announced in advance. It is short: “We, people of Ukraine, accuse Kuchma of: 1. Implication of the murder of G. Gongadze 2. Corruption and accepting bribes from officials 3. Arrangement of genocide against Ukrainian people and annihilation of 2 million citizens 4. The attempt of anti-constitutional conspiracy and abuse of power Therefore we demand from the House of Public Prosecutor of Ukraine to bring an action against Kuchma immediately<…>”

A special telegram was sent to Kuchma. The document runs as follows: “<…> We invite you personally to take part in the hearings and to stand up for your position as a citizen and as a President”. Certainly, nobody thinks that the President will really come to the “tribunal”. But is spite of the obvious theatricality of the forthcoming action, its arrangers consider that the gravity of the prosecutions should make the president respond to it anyhow. But many observers note that the authorities and the opposition do not hear each other and do not want to listen to the arguments of each other. For example, the president considers that there is no any opposition in Ukraine because there is no law “On opposition”. On Monday, speaking at National Kiev University the president said that he did not think that there was any political crisis in the state, but there were some deputies who “took the part of eternal revolutionists” and who were eager to “undermine political stability and constitutional regime in the state”. Thus, taking into consideration the harsh tone of both sides, we have to acknowledge that there is very little chance of the beginning of constructive dialog between the parties.