THE WAY A HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST ANDREY DREVITSKIY IS TRYING TO STOP THE SEPARATISTS’ COVEN IN HIS NATIVE DONBAS REGION. INTERVIEW

Andrey Drevitskiy is a head of the Liberal Political Party «Party public rule» (PNP) and a co-founder of the NGO ‘Euroleader’. He was born in the Donetsk region, and almost for 17 years has actively involved in social, political and human rights activities. The PNP has repeatedly stood up for the independent journalists, freedom of speech, private entrepreneurs and small businesses. From the very beginning of the Euromaidan confrontation, Andrey Drevitskiy has been amongst its active participants and organizers. After the former President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych escaped, Andrey Drevitskiy has launched a social network including activists who fight for the territorial integrity of Ukraine and the protection of human rights in the Donetsk region.

— Why did you bring over 100 Euroleader and the PNP activists to Maidan on 22 November 2013?

— Alike all our activists, I was shocked by the abrupt change of the views of Yanukovych and his refusal from the pro-European vector of Ukraine’s development. The PNP and Euroleader are liberal organizations, and have always supported the European integration of Ukraine. So, we went out to defend our rights in the first day of Euromaidan which has further turned into a great civil protest that led to the collapse of the Yanukovych regime.

— What did you do in Donetsk after Yanukovych had taken to flight to Russia?

— First of all, when the Euromaidan events finished, we have intensified our work on the internal development of the PNP, the procedure for preparation of liberal activists, and the consolidation of democracy and gender balance in the Party. Cooperating with the NGO ‘Euroleader’ we focused on social and political activities which included the following areas of work:
1) human rights activities, free legal advice to civilian activists, especially to those who were affected by the government and Russian separatists;
2) information and propaganda campaign concerned human rights, pro-European and anti-separatist subjects;
3) active assistance to the Ukrainian Army. After having held consultations with the representatives of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine, we started cooperating with the Makeevsky factory of metal structures. Altogether we produced concrete blocks for roadblocks at the Russian border warded by the frontier guards of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions, 20 antitank hedgehogs, and bought 12 radio transmitters.
4) treatment and evacuation of our activists and people suffered at the hands of Russian separatists in Donetsk.

— Your brother was gravely beaten by the Russian extremists. Have you appealed to the law enforcement authorities, and what reaction have you met?
— After numerous threats to me and my family, on 29 March 2014, the subversive group attacked my brother Yuriy Drevitskiy. The offenders severely beat him with an iron rod and mocked him. They demanded me, i.e. his brother Andrey Drevitskiy, to cease engaging into human rights activities; threatened bodily harm to all our family if I continue actively protecting the rights of victims and civil activists. We could not appeal to the police in the Donetsk region knowing that such actions might endanger the lives of all members of our family. We know about dozens of cases when the Donetsk police transmit to separatists the data of people who turn to them for protection, and do not help them. First of all, we gave first medical aid to my brother and immediately evacuated him to Kyiv where he was under the rehabilitation treatment. We have the photos of beatings and their medical examination.

— You were not afraid and came carrying the Ukrainian flags to the central Lenin Square in Donetsk after the separatists had killed peaceful demonstrators and dozens of them had been injured there.

— Yes, it’s true. As you know, on 13 March 2014, the attack of the Russian separatists on participants of the action ‘For United Ukraine’ in the centre of Donetsk resulted in at least four deaths and 70 injuries of peaceful demonstrators. Therefore, exactly one month after these tragic events we organized meeting accompanied by the Ukrainian national symbols to maintain the integrity of the country and protect our rights and the rights of citizens of the Donbas region and Ukraine as a whole; although, it was scary in reality. 15 minutes after the beginning of the action we were approached by a man in camouflage who asked us about the initiators of the meeting. I said that the initiators were Andrei Kiselev and me. He took a picture of us and wrote our names. Then he said that we should immediately remove the Ukrainian flags, otherwise he called the ‘guys’, and they broke up us by force. Two policemen stood nearby and heard the conversation but took no measures. And when those people came to beat us, the police completely bustled off.

— How does so renowned Ukrainian human rights activist as you assess the current situation in the Donbas region?

— The situation is critical. As an example, I can say that our activists are constantly under the threat of physical attacks and seizure as hostages while the police are not acting at all. The police phone number ‘102’ does not completely work in Donetsk. Last week, the pro-Russian activists were threatening bodily harm to the members of our organization, took and torn the leaflets containing information on human rights and rules to hold peaceful assemblies. They attacked the members of our organization because they were distributing leaflets calling for respect for human rights during the anti-war meeting in Donetsk. Every day the separatists take hostages, torture and kill people whose views on the country’s development differ from their own ones. This complicated situation needs special attention of international human rights organizations which should help to resolve the issue on human rights protection in the East of our state. These horrific events take place against a background of preparation of the separatists’ referendum on the separation of the Donetsk region from Ukraine. On behalf of the People’s Order Party, I turned to the leadership of the self-proclaimed People’s Republic of Donetsk (PRD) with the requirement to point at the legal basis and concrete articles of the Constitution of Ukraine and other regulations that they are grounding on while preparing to hold a referendum. The lawyers of the PNP and the NGO ‘Euroleader’, as well as me personally, handed on formal appeals to the PRD leadership where justified the illegality of a referendum under current Ukrainian legislation and the Constitution of Ukraine. We also pointed to the criminal responsibility to be provoked by separatist activities. We believe that this is also one of the reasons for persecuting our activists by the separatists.

— Andrei, we and the Russian separatists know you as a human rights activist who often gives interviews to foreign media and helps them to work in Ukraine including their visits to hot spots. Why do they turn to you?

— In my opinion, freedom of speech is one of the core values of the modern democratic society. It is especially important and one should understand that under the circumstances of fierce information war of Russia against Ukraine and the entire world. I am not afraid to tell the truth and believe that foreign nationals must receive true and objective information on the situation in Ukraine. For the sake of that, I am in the heart of events: I risk my life and visit hot spots. I lend support to freedom of speech, independent media and work of foreign journalists in the Donetsk region. For this reason, I am generally subjected to persecution by the Russian separatists.

— What are your future plans? Can you and supporters of the PNP and the NGO ‘Euroleader’ protect Ukraine?

— Today, more than ever, the Donetsk region needs support of the international community while protecting human rights and preventing a humanitarian catastrophe. We do all that is humanly possible, and will be working in the Donetsk region in spite of any critical situations.

— As everybody remembers, on 16 January 2014, people’s deputies adopted the controversial package of totalitarian laws. They violated all Ukrainian laws and ignored the Regulations of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. In your opinion, what impact had the adoption of those laws despite their subsequent cancellation?

— Those 11 totalitarian laws restricted the rights and freedoms of a man and were obviously repressive. So, they provoked riots in the streets of Kyiv and became the last straw to fill up the cup of the civil society patience. Fortunately, these laws are cancelled, but their effects are still to be eliminated. For instance, the ‘dictatorial law’ which amended the Law of Ukraine ‘On Public Associations’ contained a new concept of ‘foreign agent’. Now this law is cancelled but the Order of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine № 120/5 ‘On Amendments to the Procedure for the Preparation and Execution of Decisions on Public Associations’ of 21 January 2014, which was published in order to implement the ‘dictatorial law’, continues operating and regulating the compliance of the founding documents submitted for registration of a public association to carry out functions of the foreign agent with the laws of Ukraine. The NGO ‘Euroleader’ supported by the PNP intends to apply to the court requiring cancellation of the illegal Order of the Ministry of Justice № 120/5 of 21 January 2014. Being supported by our international partners including SILC and Lifeline we are implementing the project «Your Rights». Its main goal is to protect the citizens of Ukraine from the consequences of adoption of the totalitarian laws passed by the Parliament and to prevent the adoption of new laws violating human rights.

Written by Victoria Kovshun

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Дата публікації: 2-05-2014 11:20 |  переглядів