StopCensorship! movement statement

Statement

We, members of Stop Censorship! movement, journalists, and representatives of NGOs, condemn the brutal dispersal of peaceful demonstrations in Kyiv, with beating students, protesters and journalists , punitive arrests of activists, and massive human rights violations that took place in different cities of Ukraine during the last week.

We call on OSCE member States, the delegations of which have arrived in Kyiv, to:

- Send special OSCE observers to Ukraine, who would establish violations and give an assessment to the developments in Ukraine. We urge you to appoint a special Monitoring Group, whose mandate should include the right to remain in the courtroom during the proceedings against detained participants of peaceful actions, in order to guarantee the unbiased and transparent proceedings.

- Address the President of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych and the Government of Ukraine with a statement, giving your assessment to the situation, with condemning the beating of actions participants and journalists on 30 November and 1 December 2013, and turn attention to the massive human rights violations that take place in Ukraine.

Also, we inform the OSCE Ministers about our demands to the President and the Government of Ukraine.

We demand:

- an immediate resignation of Interior Minister Zaharchenko.

- to identify and punish those guilty with the beating of participants of events on 30 November and 1 December 2013.

- to identify and punish those guilty with the beating of journalists, photographers and operators, who covered the action at the Presidential Administration on December 1.

- to introduce visible individual numbers on helmets of Berkut special unit soldiers, which will make possible the identification of a fighter, and will help to eliminate impunity for their abuse of power.

IMI