Ukrainian human rights activist: “Everyone is afraid”
(Edit.) It is well known that human rights fall by the wayside in war. Thus, it is constantly reported how Russia violates human rights, which in turn gives further supposed justification to wage war with even more money, even more weapons and even more deaths. The fact that the human rights situation in Ukraine itself is devastating, but is kept quiet by the Western media, is revealed in the following interview that the Russia correspondent Ulrich Heyden conducted with the Ukrainian human rights activist Larissa Schessler in Moscow.
Human rights activist Larissa Schessler in an interview with Ulrich Heyden*
(9 January 2023) In this interview, Larissa Schessler describes what has become of the opposition movements in Ukraine since 2014. Schessler is the chairperson of the “Union of Political Refugees and Political Prisoners” in Ukraine and an engineer by profession. She lived in the southern Ukrainian city of Nikolayev. In 2014, she emigrated to Russia because criminal proceedings had been initiated against her in Ukraine. In Nikolayev, Schessler, together with other activists, had campaigned for the federalisation of Ukraine and more rights for the Russian-speaking regions in south-eastern Ukraine. (UH)
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Ulrich Heyden: You don’t hear anything more about the opposition in Ukraine. What has become of it?
Larissa Schessler: The opposition in Ukraine is now physically and politically destroyed. All organisations and opposition members and all media that disseminated oppositional opinions have been silenced. Before February 2022, all information channels through which the opposition disseminated its information were closed. Five television channels and some media houses were closed following decisions by the Verkhovna Rada and the Ukrainian Security Council. Internet portals and other media outlets were also closed. This was against the constitution and the laws. There is no free speech in Ukraine today. There is no freedom for political organisations. A total dictatorship has been established.
The Communist Party and other left organisations do not exist or do they exist underground?
Today the Communist Party of Ukraine, the Socialist Party of Ukraine, the Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine, the Union of Left Forces and many other organisations are banned in Ukraine. The leaders of these organisations are being persecuted. They are expelled from Ukraine.
The leaders of the opposition parties have fled Ukraine?
Some have left Ukraine, some have stayed in Ukraine. Either they live in hiding or they were forced to leave Ukraine.
What happened to the largest opposition party in Ukraine – the “Opposition Platform – for Life”? The party was represented in parliament by 44 MPs. In August last year, according to a poll, 19 per cent wanted to vote for this party.
For Selenski, this party was particularly unpleasant because it was his main rival in south-eastern Ukraine. Selensky did not come to power as a Nazi or leader of radical groups. He came to power because he also won over pro-Russian voters. After February 2022, the opposition platform was banned because of its pro-Russian stance. Today, the opposition platform is in a difficult position. Some leaders – like Viktor Medvechuk – were arrested, others – like Vadim Rabinovich – went abroad. The rest – like MP Yuri Boiko – speak of “Russian aggression”. Nevertheless, the MPs of the opposition platform are threatened with the withdrawal of their parliamentary mandates. They also have to reckon with physical attacks by Ukrainian nationalists.
Did the left forces in Ukraine and you personally expect such a development in 2014?
The attack of total nationalism began in 2014. And every person who thinks logically could expect that nationalism and Nazism would end sooner or later with the total ban of opposition parties. But even I did not expect such a brutal dictatorship, although criminal proceedings were initiated against me in 2014.
Criminal proceedings for calling for federalisation
What was the reason for you to move to Russia? What is your status in Russia today?
I left Ukraine in May 2014. I was a coordinator of the Anti-Maidan in the city of Nikolaev. Criminal proceedings were opened against me. We demanded the federal status of the south-eastern regions of Ukraine. But nobody wanted the south-east to secede from Ukraine at that time.
A great many comrades went to prison. I was able to escape this by leaving Ukraine. But the criminal proceedings against me in Ukraine are still going on. It has only been temporarily suspended.
There are very different mentalities in the regions of Ukraine. While the west of Ukraine is Ukrainian-speaking, the east of Ukraine has always been Russian-speaking. The ban on speaking in the Russian language, which started in 2014, is related to the fact that Ukraine is not a federal state and the regions do not have the right to speak their regional language and support their regional culture and values.
You stated at the beginning of our conversation that the opposition in Ukraine is also being physically destroyed. Can you please name names of people and organisations?
We have seen that many politically active people have disappeared without a trace or are in prisons, for example Yelena Berezhnaya.1 This is a very well-known human rights activist who has stood up for the rights of political prisoners in Ukraine. She has appeared in the UN Committee on Human Rights, in the OSCE, in the European Parliament. Yelena Berezhnaya is over 60 years old. She has been in prison since March 2022 and no one knows what state of health she is in. No one is allowed to see her, not even relatives.
Lawyers are obstructed
Doesn’t Ms Bereshnaya have a lawyer?
Yelena Berezhnaya has a lawyer, but the lawyer does not share anything with the public. Everyone is afraid to publish any information.
I heard that the Kiev lawyer Valentin Rybin had to leave Ukraine in March 2022.
The lawyer Valentin Rybin2 left Ukraine because his work as a lawyer resulted in criminal investigations. Many lawyers were forced to leave Ukraine.
Did these lawyers turn to international organisations?
Unfortunately, people in the West do not know that, for example, the well-known lawyer Dmitry Tikhonenkov3 from Kharkov, who took care of political prisoners, was arrested in March 2022. He was later released on bail.
Lawyers in Ukraine do not manage to transmit information to Western countries because they are intimidated and imprisoned. It takes a lot of courage to protect political prisoners in Ukraine today, and in fact this protection is no longer possible.
Release on bail
How many political prisoners are there in Ukraine today? Do you have a list?
We have lists, but many relatives of political prisoners are afraid to enter the data of their arrested relatives in these lists. This is because the prisoners are under the control of the prison administrations and they fear serious consequences for their relatives. They hope that their relatives will be exchanged or that they will be released from prison on large bail. Several hundred thousand euros are demanded for release on bail.
Which well-known people have been released from prison on bail?
We know, for example, that the well-known Russian Orthodox activist Dmitry Skwarzov4 was released on bail of several hundred thousand euros. The former head of the Union of “Left Forces” Vasily Volga5 was also released for a very large bail. Volga had been arrested in March 2022.
Because the relatives of the activists are still living in Ukraine, they are now afraid to make their fate public: the reasons for which they were charged and the conditions of how they were effectively bought off.
Is there any pressure on your relatives, Ms Schessler?
My relatives are not in danger today, but unfortunately I have people close to me in Ukraine. But I have been active in the field of human rights for a long time, I cannot change my position.
Can you name other opposition figures who have died or are in prison in Ukraine?
For example, there is the well-known historian Aleksander Karevin.6 He works on the common history of Russia and Ukraine. That’s why he was arrested in March 2022 and has been in prison ever since.
Then there is the expert in the field of energy, Dmitry Marunich.7 He is not a public person and does not belong to any organisation. But because he has given interviews to various media – including Russian ones – he has been in prison since April 2022 and no one knows under which paragraph of the Criminal Code they even want to charge him. Marunich simply analysed the possibilities of Ukraine’s energy sector and spoke about it at political meetings and to the media.
I have a former colleague from the city council in my home town of Nikolaev. She is over 70 years old and has been socially active for over ten years. She has been accused of supporting Russian movements. She led the “Immortal Regiment” in Nikolaev. This is a social movement in support of the heroes of the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945. Criminal proceedings have now been initiated against the organisers of the “Immortal Regiment”. They are accused of pro-Russian activity. There are very many such cases.
What I am telling you is only the tip of the iceberg. Today I received information that in the village of Snigerovki in the southern Ukrainian region of Nikolaev, which was cleared by Russian troops at the beginning of November, two female residents were arrested. They are accused of pro-Russian activity. They distributed humanitarian aid and helped apply for Russian pensions. They are charged as criminals. They face prison sentences of ten years.
“People are disappearing in the Kherson region”
What is the situation in the areas of Kherson and Kharkov where the Ukrainian army has advanced in recent months?
In the parts of Kherson and Kharkov from which the Russian army has withdrawn, there is total terror today.
Today there is very strong repression in the Kherson region. People have been arrested and accused of supporting the Russian forces. But those arrested were only distributing humanitarian aid when the northern part of Kherson was controlled by the Russian army. Teachers are persecuted who prepared lists for participation in the referendum. They are arrested and then they disappear and of many we do not know where they are.
There are no lawyers and no possibilities to search for these disappeared people. People are in great danger today.
Unfortunately, many people in the places of Snigerovki and Kherson did not realise the danger when the Ukrainian troops returned to the places.
Many citizens did not come into direct contact with political repression. When something like this happens far away, they could not imagine the brutality with which dissidents are targeted.
People just went about their normal business. A civil servant in one district did not understand that if she did not refuse to help fellow citizens apply for humanitarian aid and pensions, she was guilty of a crime, according to Kiev.
People stayed on the territory that the Russian army took and they thought they were not doing anything bad. They did not betray anyone to the Russian security agencies. They did not denounce anyone and put them in prison. But today these officials are being arrested and they are facing a long prison sentence.
A well-known journalist in Ukraine is Yuri Tkachev,8 editor-in-chief of the Odessa-based internet portal “Timer”. He was arrested in March 2022.
Yuri Tkachev was doing a purely informational job. But they threw him into prison. After paying a very big bail they released him to house arrest. They say he had to pay two million hryvnias, which is 50,000 euros.
He can’t write anything now?
Of course he can’t. A person who has been released on bail naturally does not want to go to prison again. He was silenced like many, many others.
Could Yuri Tkachev leave for Germany or another country in the European Union and continue his work from there?
They will not allow it, for he is under house arrest. No man under the age of 60 is allowed to leave Ukraine today.
Recently, the Ukrainian secret service SBU searched several Russian Orthodox monasteries in Ukraine. One of these searches took place in the Kiev monastery of Troize-Sergiyeva Lavra. It was claimed that Russian underground fighters were being sought there.
The SBU makes things up to justify political persecution of religious dignitaries. To set up an underground group today in the church, that is, in a big city where there is no place to hide, is absurd.
The Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Russian Patriarchate unites Ukrainians and Russians, which is why it has been persecuted by the Kiev power for several years. The common faith is a crime from the point of view of the Kiev power.
The Orthodox Church is naturally looking for compromises with those in power. The Church is not a political organisation that will fight. But it cannot change its nature and continues to stand up for the common faith of Russians and Ukrainians.
For people in Ukraine who are used to watching Russian news or cultural programmes, are there channels on the internet where they can get information?
In Ukraine, anyone can be stopped on the street. He can be asked to show his phone and the Telegram channels he subscribes to. And anyone who has subscribed to a well-known Russian channel like colonelcassad or Yuri Podolyaka can be arrested and interrogated. When my friends in Ukraine leave the house, they delete all their Telegram channels. Many YouTube channels and websites are blocked in Ukraine. You can only see them through VPN [virtual private networks, edit.].
The most well-known political murders
What are the most well-known political murders in Ukraine in recent years?
At the beginning of March 2015, there was the alleged suicide of the former governor of the Saparoshei region, Aleksandr Pekluschenko. In reality, it was a political murder.
On 15 April 2015, Oleg Kalashnikov was shot dead.9 Kalashnikov was a member of the Party of Regions. He had tried to organise a march of the “Immortal Regiment” in Kiev.
On 16 April 2015, the journalist and writer Oles Busina was shot dead.10
The crucial thing is that it is known who carried out these murders but no one has been held accountable for them.
Moreover, there were very many murders that were passed off as suicides, for example in the death of Walentinа Semenjuk11 the Chairwoman of the Fund for Privatisation of State Property, in August 2014.
There were many political murders. But the crucial thing was that these murders spread fear.
What is your prognosis for the future of Ukraine?
Ukraine as a sovereign state has already ceased to exist. The territory is under complete American control and is being used as a tool in the fight against Russia.
Source: https://www.nachdenkseiten.de/?p=91091, 2 December 2022 (translation “Swiss Standpoint).
Reprinted with kind permission of the author.
| * Ulrich Heyden has been reporting from Russia since 1993. He sees himself as a journalist who depicts what he sees and experiences in Russia and the neighbouring states. He wants to serve neither positive nor negative expectations, but to deliver reality. (https://ulrich-heyden.de/page/1) |
2 https://yandex.ru/video/preview/3050392820417740556
3 https://novostivl.ru/post/349612/
4 https://regnum.ru/news/polit/3529274.html
5 https://news-front.info/2022/03/28/ukrainskie-siloviki-pohitili-i-pytajut-oppozicionera-volgu/
6 https://regnum.ru/news/polit/3554817.html
7 https://ukraina.ru/20220409/1033730384.html
8 https://ukraina.ru/20220323/1033586583.html
9 https://lenta.ru/articles/2015/04/16/buzuna_kalash/