Some time ago Kharkiv was leading the civil protest against the Kiev junta. Now it appears to fall silent forever. The city is often called the second capital of Ukraine and it may launch a new wave of protests, something the new regime is really afraid of. Late on April 8 almost 70 anti-Maidan protesters were arrested to face politically motivated trials in July. Today those who aspire to become part of Europe make dissenters face trials. The political opposition should be quelled by doing away with those who disagree. Now they try to install this kind of order throughout the whole Ukraine.
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Sergey Udayev, a journalist, was arrested on April 8. He is accused of participating in an attack against the Kharkiv regional administration building. To increase pressure he was transferred from an investigation cell of pre-trial detention center to a penitentiary where the criminals serve their sentences. But he is a suspect not a prisoner; there has been no court ruling in his case. To protest the action Udayev cut his veins. All appeals and protests related to this human rights violation go unanswered. Called to face trial on July 29 Sergey Udayev read out a statement of protest and sent letters to presidents of Ukraine and Russia, the head of Ukrainian Security Service, the Ukrainian Prosecutor General, the General Consul of the Russian Federation, the ombudsman at Verkhovna Rada…as a result, the court ruled to prolong his arrest without a right for bail till October 2. His wife Elena says he is kept in the same cell with real criminals, being under constant pressure he is threatened. They also threaten the members of his family. “Sometimes it seems to me I’m counting the last days,” she says. Legally Udayev is a Russian citizen: he had his residence registered in Crimea at the moment of March 16 referendum. When Crimea became part of Russia he became a citizen of the Russian Federation though he had no time to get the passport being detained.
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There are nine people from Luhansk kept behind bars in a Kharkiv pre-trial detention center. For instance, clergyman Vladimir Maretsky (the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate), abbot of St. Nicholas temple of village Raygorodka, Novoaydar district of Luhansk region. He is accused of involvement in terrorist activities.