Translated by Ollie Richardson & Angelina Siard

15:35:03
06/08/2018

vesti-ukr.com

Lvov activists from the local branch of the voluntary movement “OUN” [a pro-Bandera bandit formation – ed] published a list of human rights activists, journalists, and activists who, in the opinion of “OUN” members, represent the “Moscow’s fifth columnists in Lvov”.

On the list there is the blogger Pavel Khomiv, human rights activist Galina Chaika, the theater performer Nikolay Sanzharevsky, and priests of the Lvov diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. “OUN” members called the publication “VataLeaks”, and the list of “vatniks” is replenished by users of Facebook.

“They walk among us every day. You meet many of them on the street from time to time and you don’t guess that the enemy is in front of you. Enemies are not mythical beings. They have names and faces. These are those people who wait for the arrival of the Moscow army,” it is said in the statement on Facebook.

Lvov “OUN” members claim that instead of shouting “Glory to Ukraine!” 1,000 times and blaming Putin for everything, it is better “to make the lives of these people intolerable”.

“Shoot the bastards” all at once!

In the comments section beneath the angry post of the Lvov patriots users of the social network, without mincing their words, suggest to “shoot the bastards” and send them in wagons to Russia. Meanwhile the list of dissidents is constantly replenished via the efforts of radicals in Lvov. They send a photo and the personal data of “vatniks”, but not everyone agrees with collecting such information and calling to inflict punishments.

“So here is who raises our tariffs! Here is who raises the cost of transport! Here is who steals budget money and puts it in an offshore!” wrote Evgeniya Kasyanenko. And some users even admire the courage of dissidents who live in the capital of the “Banderist region”. The post became popular for some days – it was shared more than 1000 times, but civil society and law enforcement bodies practically didn’t react to it.

Precautionary measures in a tolerant city

Pavel Khomiv became well-known after appearing in Anatoly Shariy’s video. Before this he was known in a narrow circle of activists. On his Facebook account he criticises nationalists, the current Ukrainian authorities, and reacts to events in the country and his native Lvov. At the same time, law enforcement authorities don’t find any violations of the law in Khomiv’s posts. But they do find violations in the actions of the radicals who attacked the blogger.

“The police started to survey the radicals with caution. After I was attacked an investigation began, but tension in the information field grows – the threat of another attack is quite real. Recently I appealed to the police to provide me with protection near the court and in public places. Generally, I walk around the city with care,” reported Pavel Khomiv to “Vesti”. The blogger declares that “Lvov – isn’t lost”, and claims that the capital of Galicia is a democratic city. “Our task is to prove that we are tolerant, and that radicals will be punished in court,” said Khomiv.

Saving the country’s reputation

The political scientist Aleksey Yakubin considers that the emergence of such a list is a consequence of the “broken windows theory”. “There is the website ‘Mirotvorets‘ which the UN and European human rights organisations condemned, but its activity becomes protected by the authorities. This will lead to projects that call for violence to spread. The authorities must work with the full severity of the law. On European platforms they say that they adhere to human rights and European values, but inside the country everything is completely different,” said Yakubin.

The head of the human rights platform “Uspishna Varta“ Natalya Natalina regards these actions as a violation of citizens’ equality based on race, nationality, or religious preferences. In fact, this crime is stipulated by Article 161 of the Criminal Code – violation of citizens’ equality based on their race, nationality or religious preferences.

“We filed a claim with the police after the crime happened, but we understand that this is a systemic problem. Along with our Lvov partners – including those persons added to this ‘list’, we intend to develop a general mechanism of legal actions,” said the human rights activist to the correspondent of “Vesti”.

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