[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 36 (Tuesday, March 6, 2012)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E321-E322]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  MORE DEMOCRATIC SETBACKS IN UKRAINE

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, March 6, 2012

  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, last week, former Ukrainian 
Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko was sentenced to four years 
imprisonment in yet another politically motivated trial. This comes 
after the imprisonment--also the result of an unfair trial on specious 
charges--of his ally, former Prime Minister Yuliya Tymoshenko, who 
continues to languish in prison in ill health.
  The sentencing of Mr. Lutsenko is a further confirmation that the 
regime of President Viktor Yanukovych is not taking its OSCE human 
rights and democracy obligations seriously. The imprisonment of 
opposition leaders Tymoshenko and Lutsenko prohibits their 
participation in October's parliamentary elections, raising serious 
questions about whether Ukraine will meet OSCE election standards. This 
could be especially troubling given Ukraine's assumption of the OSCE 
Chairmanship in January, 2013, two months after these elections. As 
Chairman of the Helsinki Commission, it is also of concern to me and my 
colleagues, who have long advocated an independent, democratic, and 
free Ukraine.
  Mr. Lutsenko's conviction is disconcerting in that it starkly 
illustrates the deterioration of human rights, democracy and the rule 
of law under the presidency of Viktor Yanukovych, who has pressed the 
pause button on Ukraine's once-promising advance towards democracy--and 
increasingly it seems he is switching to the reverse button. Instead, 
what we now see is something increasingly reminiscent of the kind of 
authoritarianism that exists in Russia, Belarus and elsewhere in the 
post-Soviet space.
  Ukraine's democratic backsliding is harming relations with the EU and 
the United States, and both have repeatedly made clear that for 
relations to improve, respect for human rights and the democratic 
process must improve. Most importantly, this now two-year deterioration 
negatively affects the Ukrainian people, who, following the Orange 
Revolution, had tasted the fruits of freedom, and are now increasingly 
experiencing the burden of its undoing.
  It is time for President Yanukovych to show respect for the dignity 
of his own people by

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putting an end to political prosecutions and other reprisals against 
those who oppose him and allow their full participation in political 
life. In order to find credibility with both the Ukrainian people and 
the international community, he must end restrictions on freedom of 
speech and association and reverse the debilitating corruption and 
judicial subservience to the executive which has so eroded the rule of 
law.
  Mr. Speaker, the time has come for the Ukrainian authorities to stop 
their slide to authoritarianism and resulting isolation which will only 
harm Ukrainians who for so long--and at such great cost--have struggled 
for freedom, dignity and justice.

                          ____________________