Doc. 8955

25 January 2001

Freedom of expression and functioning of parliamentary democracy in Ukraine

Opinion1

Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights

Rapporteur: Mr Mátyás Eörsi, Hungary, LDR

I.        Conclusions of the committee

The Committee supports the draft resolution and recommendation submitted by the Committee on the honouring of obligations and commitments by member states of the Council of Europe. It proposes, however, the following amendment:

Amendment A

In paragraph 5 of the draft resolution, after sub-paragraph iii., insert the following sub-paragraphs:

II.        Explanatory memorandum by Mr Eörsi, Rapporteur

1.        The Rapporteur of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights read with great interest the report prepared by the Rapporteurs of the Committee on the honouring of obligations and commitments by member States of the Council of Europe on their fact-finding visit to Ukraine from 10 to 12 January 2001.

2.        On reading their report one has to welcome one important achievement which took place in the year 2000. I refer to the deletion of the death penalty from the criminal code, which was one of the commitments entered into by Ukraine when acceding to the Council of Europe.

3.        On the other hand, some recent developments are very worrying. I refer first to the so-called “referendum” on the reform of the institutions which took place in April 2000. As mentioned in the report of the Monitoring Committee, should the results of this “referendum” be implemented, this could have a major impact on the balance of powers in Ukraine.

4.        But the request for an urgent debate by the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights was prompted by another serious problem, that is to say the threats to the freedom of expression illustrated by the Gongadze case.

5.        Georgui Gongadze disappeared in September 2000 and was probably killed. The Attorney General declared on 10 January 2001 that the decapitated body found in November 2000 was probably his.

6.        There are allegations that President Kuchma was directly implicated, according to the Socialist Party leader who produced audio tapes before the Verkhovna Rada (the Parliament) which had allegedly been recorded in Mr Kuchma’s office.

7.        The Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, while supporting the proposals of the Monitoring Committee, would like to emphasise the importance of a strict separation of powers and above all the independence of the judiciary.

Reporting committee: Committee on the honouring of obligations and commitments by member States of the Council of Europe

Committee for opinion: Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights

Reference to committee: Reference 2563 of 22 January 2001

Opinion approved by the committee on 25 January 2001

Secretaries to the committee: Mr Plate, Ms Coin and Ms Kleinsorge


1 See Doc 8945 tabled by the Committee on the honouring of obligations and commitments by member States of the Council of Europe.