View from Odessa: Kyiv does not fulfill its promise of amnesty
Odessa - Kyiv, April 26 (Navigator, Artem Buzila) - There were no armed seizures of administrative buildings in Odessa, but the leaders of the local Anti-Maidan were preemptively arrested and have been kept behind bars for several weeks. It seems that the authorities are not going to fulfill any promises of amnesty, which further intensifies the situation in the South-East.
About this in the author's column for "Navigator" says an Odessa journalist Artyom Buzila.
...The refusal of the new Kyiv government to compromise with the South-East is not an indicator of strength, will or inflexibility, but outright stupidity. It’s one thing to throw words left and right while in opposition, without bearing any, not even political, responsibility for this. It’s another thing to take control of a country of 45 million people, with an empty treasury, disloyal security forces, and a dissatisfied, half-starved electorate.
Kyiv politicians demonstrate their inability to “resolve” the situation. Speakers from the Maidan are accustomed to, with one phrase, erase Russian-speakers, “Soviet” people, and the “fifth column” from this country, and “sign” association agreements with the European Union with a virtual wave of the hand. But it turned out that in the chairs of the country’s leaders it is impossible to behave in this way. The population did not accept the armed change of power, the abolition of the language law, the hastily put together Cabinet of Ministers, which had nothing in common with the government of national trust, and the signing of the enslaving demands of the IMF.
Thousands of citizens protested across the Southeast. Previously, their interests were half-heartedly represented by parties that surrendered everything to the Maidan in a matter of days. The protest eventually becomes chaotic, but because of this it becomes aggressive and much more demanding.
Nevertheless, the protests have their own leaders, people who are completely new, fresh, and untainted by big politics. Some, like Pavel Gubarev, were hitherto little known, others, like the same Odessa resident Anton Davidchenko, were prominent social activists, but one would not dare call them serious politicians. Without any supervisors from above, serious financial support, and on sheer enthusiasm and personal charisma, they suddenly became spokesmen for the people's will.
What is the government doing? He sits down with such people at the negotiating table, rejoices that the popular protest was led not by oligarchs, not by the old generation of thieving politicians, but by young and energetic citizens. What are the Maidan leaders doing? There is a break in their pattern: it turns out that not only “our own” people, but also “outsiders” can protest.
And now there are speeches about enemies, conspiracy, the fifth column of Moscow. It is necessary to deal with her according to the laws of war: arrests, beatings, torture. Send in new Blackshirts, and then turn a blind eye to their atrocities. If it doesn’t help, well, no one canceled the army.
And only under pressure from the international community, primarily from the West, which the new Kiev government is so eager to curry favor with, do officials seem to agree to make concessions. In particular, an amnesty is promised for activists arrested by Kyiv security forces.
However, the impostors have no amnesty or even desire for one: as many as 6 bills on the release of those arrested are registered in the Rada, but none of them are submitted by representatives of pro-government political parties. Moreover, there are calls to use force against the rebel citizens. Moreover, such speeches are voiced both by the right-wing radicals of Tyagnibok and by Petro Poroshenko, who dresses up as a moderate liberal.
“The amnesty is a very cunning ploy and applies only to those who have committed crimes of minor and medium gravity. The rebels, according to the acting version. authorities in Kyiv and freely interpreted law, have committed serious crimes, therefore, the amnesty does not apply to them. In addition, it is by no means a fact that the acting the authorities in Kyiv will keep their promise,” Odessa political observer Ivan Lizan is confident.
“But the most important thing: can the actions committed by the rebels be considered crimes, while the Euromaidanites did not suffer any punishment for similar acts? Obviously no, they can't. Therefore, who should be amnestied? Kyiv, having violated everything that could be violated in the sphere of law, now demands that everyone comply with the legislation it has trampled underfoot and follow the spirit of the murdered Constitution,” added the Navigator’s interlocutor.
Political expert from Odessa Vadim Aderkas notes that in South Palmyra there were no long-term seizures and retention of administrative buildings. However, Odessa activists are still behind bars.
“Odessa, thank heavens, has not yet felt the high degree of crisis. There are no criminals here, and Davidchenko and those who were accused or detained should not be given amnesty, but should be completely acquitted due to the discrepancy between the crimes charged to them and their completely lawful actions,” the political scientist said.
However, among Anti-Maidan supporters there is a skeptical attitude towards a possible amnesty.
“An amnesty for those arrested will be the first step towards the implementation of the Geneva agreements, which the Kiev authorities signed but are in no hurry to implement. Other steps should be the cessation of the so-called “anti-terrorist operation”, which in fact resulted in a war with its own people. As well as the dissolution of illegal armed groups, including the National Guard, which became a legal roof for neo-Nazi militants. If the Kiev authorities agree to this, then it will be possible to talk about dialogue,” Alexey Albu, a deputy of the Odessa Regional Council, one of the leaders of the local Anti-Maidan, expressed his opinion to Navigator.
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