ANALYSIS: Yushchenko receives death threats (11/16/03)

ANALYSIS

Yushchenko receives death threats

by Roman Kupchinsky
RFE/RL Organized Crime and Terrorism Watch

As the presidential elections in Ukraine, scheduled for next year draw closer, a number of incidents have occurred that indicate that the use of dirty tactics has already begun.

Viktor Yushchenko, the leader of the Our Ukraine opposition bloc, announced in late October that he had received a number of death threats and that some 40 members of his bloc have been notified of investigations against them by the Procurator General's Office. In response to this, President Leonid Kuchma announced that he had ordered the Security Service of Ukraine to provide bodyguards for Mr. Yushchenko.

On October 30, Our Ukraine was scheduled to hold a regional conference in Donetsk, but at the last minute the hall rented for this purpose was cancelled by the city administration. When Mr. Yushchenko arrived in Donetsk with his party, a large number of demonstrators from local pro-Russian organizations were at the airport protesting his arrival. As members of Our Ukraine tried to enter the conference hall, they were blocked by hundreds of demonstrators, while televised footage showed police standing by without interfering.

The following day another Our Ukraine rally was to have been held in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv. Here, too, the oblast chairman, an appointee of the president, announced that the hall was no longer available. The rally, attended by several thousand people, was held on the street outside the hall.

On October 31, the Ukrainska Pravda website (http://www.pravda.com.ua) published an alleged "secret" letter of instruction circulated by the presidential administration and signed by a high-ranking member of the administration, Yuriy Zahorodnyi, ordering oblast chairmen to do what it takes to prevent Our Ukraine from organizing meetings and rallies in their regions.

Roman Kupchinsky is the editor of RFE/RL Crime and Corruption Watch.

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