Holovatyi's election invalidated (05/03/98)

Holovatyi's election invalidated

by Yaro Bihun
Special to The Ukrainian Weekly

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - Serhii Holovatyi, president of the Ukrainian Legal Foundation and former justice minister of Ukraine, on April 25 condemned an unexpected court invalidation of his election to the Verkhovna Rada. He said the action was politically motivated and accused President Leonid Kuchma's administration of being behind it.

Mr. Holovatyi was participating at a Yale University conference on institutional reforms in Ukraine when he learned from an associate about the Pechersk region court's April 24 decision.

He announced the news to a startled audience during a discussion of legal system reforms in Ukraine.

Mr. Holovatyi said that when he left Kyiv for the United States on April 22, he was not aware there was an appeal pending before the Pechersk region court.

In a statement released on April 25, Mr. Holovatyi said the Central Election Commission had dismissed an earlier grievance filed by several defeated candidates, ruling that the alleged violations could not have affected the outcome.

While at Yale, he learned from his assistant, Kostiantyn Mazur, that some candidates apparently appealed to the Pechersk court, citing violations by someone other that Mr. Holovatyi, and that the judge overturned the commission's ruling.

"This is in violation of procedures," he said, noting that he was not notified about a pending court hearing. "Maybe they took advantage of my being out of the country," he added.

Mr. Holovatyi pointed out that if, indeed, there were violations that would require the invalidation of election results, then those responsible should be prosecuted. "But if it is decided that there were violations, and the election results are invalidated, but no one is held responsible, then it's a political decision," he said.

"I'm convinced that there is no cause for invalidating the results," he added. "It's a political vendetta against me by the Kuchma government because of my staunch opposition to Kuchma."

Mr. Holovatyi said that in a private conversation with his colleagues following the court ruling, the judge admitted that he was pressured to rule as he did and that he was promised the position of deputy chief of the Pechersk region court.

In an interview, Mr. Holovatyi said that, running as an independent, he received more votes (22,500) than his top two opponents combined - Vechirniy Kyiv Editor Vitalii Karpenko of the National Front (12,000) and Ivan Zaiets of Rukh (7,000).

He said that both Mr. Karpenko and Mr. Zaiets waged an "all-out campaign" not against Communists or Socialists, but - "not without partisan direction" - against him.

"I think that it was a calculated action by the government," he said. Rukh participated in the ploy, he said, because, under Vyacheslav Chornovil it has become "greatly dependent on and subservient to the Kuchma government."

Mr. Holovatyi also questioned the motives of Mr. Karpenko, whom he described as a former Communist "apparatchyk" who "somehow found himself a place in Slava Stetsko's National Front."

Mr. Holovatyi said he plans to appeal the Pechersk court ruling to Ukraine's Supreme Court, and, if necessary, to the European Court of Human Rights, "which has jurisdiction when all national human rights protection avenues have been exhausted."