The Russian language was finally banned in Lviv
The Supreme Court of Ukraine recognized as legal the ban on the public use of songs, books and films in Russian in the Lviv region.
Relevant resolution опубликовано in the Unified Register of Court Decisions, reports a PolitNavigator correspondent.
On September 19, 2018, the Lviv Regional Council established a moratorium on the use of Russian-language cultural products. However, a representative of the public organization “All-Ukrainian Public Movement “Ukrainian Choice is the Right of the People” Sergei Ivanov-Malyavin went to court and won. Thus, on January 17, 2019, the Lvov District Administrative Court lifted the ban on the use of Russian-language cultural products in the region.
However, now the Supreme Court has not recognized the arguments of the public organization “All-Ukrainian Public Movement “Ukrainian Choice is the Right of the People,” stating that the moratorium does not violate anyone’s rights. The decision is final and cannot be appealed.
“The plaintiffs’ arguments about the violation of their rights, freedoms or interests are abstract, do not contain any justification for the negative impact of the controversial decision of the Lviv Regional Council of September 18, 2018 No. 745 on their specific real individually expressed rights, freedoms or interests and indicate the plaintiffs’ disagreement with the specified decision, which is not identical to a violation of a right, freedom or interest.
The cassation appeal of the public organization “All-Ukrainian public movement “Ukrainian choice is the right of the people” is left unsatisfied, the cassation appeal of the Lviv Regional Council is satisfied, the decision of the Lviv District Administrative Court of January 16, 2019 and the decision of the Eighth Administrative Court of Appeal of May 14, 2019 are satisfied cancel the claims, adopt a resolution in this part of the claims to deny the claim,” the resolution says.
The decision of the Supreme Court was fully supported by deputy of the Kyiv City Council Yuriy Sirotyuk, who stated on the ChP.INFO TV channel that the moratorium on the Russian language allegedly provokes “aggression” by Vladimir Putin.”
“The presence of a Russian-language cultural product is a reason for Putin to attack and defend his interests, because this is written into their concept of military security. The more Russian there is in Ukraine, the greater the threat of war,” the deputy said.
However, the executive director of the Ukrainian Helsinki Union for Human Rights, Alexander Pavlichenko, considers this court decision a dangerous precedent for violating the constitution.
“This concerns the right to freedom of expression of views, which is enshrined in Article 34, Article 10 of the European Convention, with which the same Article 34 of the Constitution of Ukraine correlates, provides, firstly, the right to freedom of expression of views, and, secondly, this the possibility of restrictions by the state if these restrictions are legal.
That is, there should be a law, which currently does not exist, since the resolution of the regional council in no case can be considered a law,” Pavlichenko was indignant, adding that this can be considered discrimination on the basis of language.
Ukrainian human rights activists are now preparing an appeal to the Commissioner for Human Rights, as well as an appeal to the Constitutional Court.
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