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Anti-protest laws in Ukraine
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Anti-protest laws in Ukraine
The Ukrainian anti-protest laws were a group of ten laws restricting freedom of speech and freedom of assembly passed by the Verkhovna Rada (Parliament of Ukraine) on January 16, 2014 (referred to as Black Thursday by its opponents) and signed into law by President Viktor Yanukovych the following day, amid massive anti-government protests known as “Euromaidan” that started in November. The laws were collectively referred to as the "laws on dictatorship" (Ukrainian: закони про диктатуру, romanized: zakony pro dyktaturu, Russian: зако́ны о диктату́ре, romanized: zakony o diktature), by Euromaidan activists, non-governmental organizations, scholars, and the Ukrainian media.
In the aftermath of their passing, Western nations criticised the laws for their undemocratic nature and their ability to significantly curb the rights to protest, free speech and the activity of non-governmental organisations. They were described in the media and by experts as "draconian", with Timothy Snyder claiming that they effectively established the nation as a dictatorship. The laws were widely denounced internationally, with US Secretary of State John Kerry describing them as "anti-democratic".[citation needed]
The laws were developed by MPs Vadym Kolesnychenko and Volodymyr Oliynyk from the ruling Party of Regions, and supported by a voting bloc consisting of the Party of Regions, the Communist Party and some independent MPs. They were adopted with a number of procedural violations. In accordance with enforcing the new laws, Interior Minister Vitaliy Zakharchenko pledged that "each offence will be met by our side harshly."
After the laws were passed, widespread violence erupted between protesters and security forces, escalating the Euromaidan movement and resulting in the Hrushevskoho riots and then the Revolution of Dignity. As a result of the escalation the laws were causing, nine anti-protest laws were cancelled by the Verkhovna Rada on 28 January 2014.
When adopting the laws the Verkhovna Rada violated a number of its own procedural rules. The laws were voted mostly by showing of hands. This is allowed by the Rules of Procedureuk but only when there is no "technical possibility" to vote through the electronic system. Moreover, hands were "counted" within a few seconds, based on the number of MPs included in the parliamentary groups, while many MPs were in fact absent. Diplomats observing the votes counted only some 100 to 140 raised hands, while the laws would have needed to be adopted by a majority of 226 votes. Most of the laws were adopted without prior consideration in the parliament's committees as required and with no time for examining the laws even by the MPs.
The laws had provisions such as:
Further provisions included:
On January 28, the Parliament voted to repeal nine of the laws, with 361 of the 450 MPs in favor. In what The New York Times described as a compromise, the Parliament approved more limited versions of some restrictions: for example, the destruction of monuments was recriminalized, but was specified to cover only anti-fascist monuments, and not statues of Lenin.
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Anti-protest laws in Ukraine
The Ukrainian anti-protest laws were a group of ten laws restricting freedom of speech and freedom of assembly passed by the Verkhovna Rada (Parliament of Ukraine) on January 16, 2014 (referred to as Black Thursday by its opponents) and signed into law by President Viktor Yanukovych the following day, amid massive anti-government protests known as “Euromaidan” that started in November. The laws were collectively referred to as the "laws on dictatorship" (Ukrainian: закони про диктатуру, romanized: zakony pro dyktaturu, Russian: зако́ны о диктату́ре, romanized: zakony o diktature), by Euromaidan activists, non-governmental organizations, scholars, and the Ukrainian media.
In the aftermath of their passing, Western nations criticised the laws for their undemocratic nature and their ability to significantly curb the rights to protest, free speech and the activity of non-governmental organisations. They were described in the media and by experts as "draconian", with Timothy Snyder claiming that they effectively established the nation as a dictatorship. The laws were widely denounced internationally, with US Secretary of State John Kerry describing them as "anti-democratic".[citation needed]
The laws were developed by MPs Vadym Kolesnychenko and Volodymyr Oliynyk from the ruling Party of Regions, and supported by a voting bloc consisting of the Party of Regions, the Communist Party and some independent MPs. They were adopted with a number of procedural violations. In accordance with enforcing the new laws, Interior Minister Vitaliy Zakharchenko pledged that "each offence will be met by our side harshly."
After the laws were passed, widespread violence erupted between protesters and security forces, escalating the Euromaidan movement and resulting in the Hrushevskoho riots and then the Revolution of Dignity. As a result of the escalation the laws were causing, nine anti-protest laws were cancelled by the Verkhovna Rada on 28 January 2014.
When adopting the laws the Verkhovna Rada violated a number of its own procedural rules. The laws were voted mostly by showing of hands. This is allowed by the Rules of Procedureuk but only when there is no "technical possibility" to vote through the electronic system. Moreover, hands were "counted" within a few seconds, based on the number of MPs included in the parliamentary groups, while many MPs were in fact absent. Diplomats observing the votes counted only some 100 to 140 raised hands, while the laws would have needed to be adopted by a majority of 226 votes. Most of the laws were adopted without prior consideration in the parliament's committees as required and with no time for examining the laws even by the MPs.
The laws had provisions such as:
Further provisions included:
On January 28, the Parliament voted to repeal nine of the laws, with 361 of the 450 MPs in favor. In what The New York Times described as a compromise, the Parliament approved more limited versions of some restrictions: for example, the destruction of monuments was recriminalized, but was specified to cover only anti-fascist monuments, and not statues of Lenin.
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