Kateryna Handziuk’s assassination: activists demand the resignation of Lutsenko and Avakov

STATEMENT

of the Coalition for the Protection of Civil Society

regarding Kateryna Handziuk’s assassination

Kateryna Handziuk, a public activist and employee of the executive committee of Kherson City Council, died on November 4 in the burn center of Kyiv City Hospital №2.

The death happened three months after the day when she was brutally attacked on July 31, 2018, in Kherson. One liter of sulfuric acid was poured on Kateryna’s head. As a result, the activist received 40% of body burns and got to intensive care department. All three months Kateryna Handziuk stayed there. She underwent 15 surgery operations. But doctors didn’t manage to save her life.

The brutal reprisal against Kateryna Handziuk is the act of intimidation of the whole civil society in Ukraine, of all active citizens who, in cities, towns and villages, stand against corruption and organized crime which have been rooted for decades.

The investigation of attack on Kateryna Handziuk again demonstrated the apparent failure of the law enforcement system to effectively investigate this case as well as a number of other attacks on civil activists, which took place in various regions of Ukraine after the Revolution of Dignity.

So, despite severe bodily injuries inflicted to Kateryna Handziuk as a result of the attack, which made a real risk to her life, the police initially qualified the attack under Article 296 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (hooliganism). When the case became widely publicized, it was re-qualified as “serious bodily harm in the form of intimidation”. Then the qualification was changed again and was defined as “murder attempt”. And only after two months, on September 25, 2018, at the request of the attorney Yevheniya Zakrevska, the General Directorate of the National Police in Kherson region, added the sign of contract crime (Paragraph 11, Part 2, Article 115 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). However, the sign of “contract” crime still does not appear in the notices of suspicion handed to performers of the attack.

It should be noted that in the attempt to put an end to the rush of social indignation and to quickly report regarding disclosure of resonance crime, the police arrested Mykola Novikov allegedly as the suspect of assassination attempt on the activist. Investigative journalists managed to find out that Novikov was innocent. This undermined already low credibility regarding law enforcement officials in this case. At that time, real perpetrators of the crime were out of prison. And if not the pressure on law enforcement agencies, it was unknown whether they would be identified or detained at all.

Kateryna Handziuk, who sharply criticized corruption of Kherson police, also had doubts regarding the ability of local law enforcement agencies to expose her attackers and asked to forward this investigation case to the Security Service of Ukraine.

On August 17 and 19, 2018, the National Police together with the Security Service of Ukraine detained five persons who are reasonably suspected of organizing and attacking the activist. Among them there is also one person who is the organizer and another person who is the direct performer. Both of them are currently in prison. Another three suspects have received house arrest as a preventive measure.

The injured party has repeatedly stated about procedural problems that are results of the pre-trial investigation regarding performers and those who stand behind the assassination in two different proceedings by two different agencies, the National Police and the SBU. The injured party filed the appeal and asked to unite two proceedings in the SBU.

Today, those who stand behind the assassination of Kateryna Handziuk have not been established. Even theoretical possibility of their establishment and further prosecution is under the question, due to procedural obstacles that are created intentionally or by mistake by the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine.

The investigation of this assassination, including establishment of those who stand behind it, is the requirement for effective investigation which is classified under Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Unfortunately, this and at least a hundred of other attacks on civil activists, that occurred on the territory which is under the control of Ukrainian government after EuroMaydan, are not being investigated effectively. Moreover, even in those isolated cases where performers have been established, those who stand behind these attacks are not established. Therefore, the wave of attacks on public activists only grows, and non-punished evil is multiplied.

Corruption, impunity and lack of effective police and prosecutor’s reform are causes of mass persecution and attacks on civic activists. As long as attackers, organizers and those who stand behind more than a hundred of attacks on civil activists, that have happened during last few years, will not be punished, activists could not feel safe.

The coalition for the protection of civil society expresses its deep condolences to Kateryna Handziuk’s relatives and friends. This is a hard and indescribable loss of a colleague for all of us. She was honest, principled, courageous, and devoted to ideals of democratic and corruption-free Ukraine.

We are outraged by the state of investigation of attacks and assassinations of civil activists. We demand resignation of the leadership of Kherson Police, which from the very beginning sabotaged the investigation of attack on Kateryna Handziuk. And we also demand resignation of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine Yuriy Lutsenko and the Minister of Internal Affairs Arsen Avakov who sabotaged reform of law enforcement agencies in Ukraine.

We demand conducting the effective investigation of assassination of Kateryna Handziuk and public report about measures which were taken to establish and punish those who stand behind this terrible crime, as well as effective investigation of this and hundreds of other attacks on civil activists that have taken place all over Ukraine since EuroMaidan.

The statement is endorsed by: 

• Human Rights Information Center

• Association of Ukrainian Human Rights Monitors on Law Enforcement

• Ukrainian Institute of Human Rights

• Center for Civil Liberties

• Bureau of Social and Political Developments

• Truth Hounds

• Luhansk Regional Human Rights Center “Alternative”

• Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union

• Crimea-SOS

• Cherkasy Human Rights Center

• Open Dialogue Foundation

• Human Rights Platform

• Center for Legal and Political Studies “SIM”

• NGO “Helsinki Initiative-XXI”

• Digital Security Lab

• Ukrainian Center for Independent Political Research

• The Right to Protection

• Crimean Human Rights Group

• Media Initiative for Human Rights

• Youth organization “STAN”

• Kharkiv regional foundation “Public alternative”

• Vostok-SOS

• Anti-Corruption Action Center

• Transparency International Ukraine

• Reanimation Package of Reforms

• Automaidan

• Chesno movement

• Center UA

• StateWatch

• National Union of Journalists of Ukraine

• Institute of Mass Information

• Detector Media

• Center for Economic Strategy

• Public Control Platform

• People’s Defense

• Foundation “Parity”

• Anti-Corruption Forum of Lviv Region

• Association of Development of Obukhivshchyna

• Dyvovyzhni

• Opir.org

• The Center for Research of the Liberation Movement

• Civil Network Opora

• Experts Council

• Association of Political Sciences

• Coalition of Reform of Boguslavshchyna

• Boguslav Sich

• Center of Regional Development and Rights

• Ternopil branch of Automaidan

• Creative center “Nivroku”

• Volunteer community “Bunker C”

• Kharkiv non-profit organization “Contemporary woman”

• Eksampey

• People’s control of Kirovograd region

• Territory Of Success

• Center of media investigations “Prozoro”

• Svizh

• Joint Action

• Kirovohrad regional organization of “Prosvita”

• Sumy Reforms Council

• Kharkiv Women Union “Sphera”

• Women’s Anticorruption Movement

• Coalition “Dnipro Reforms”

• Podil Ecological Union

• Reforms Council of Khmelnytsk region

• Coalition “OHO-Cherkasy”

• Kharkiv Anticorruption Center

• Kharkiv Reforms Coalition

• Educational Human Rights House Chernihiv

• NGO MART

• NGO Liberation Movement

• DEJURE Foundation

• NGO Eco-Bucha

• Eidos Center

• Centre of Policy and Legal Reform

• NGO Digital Media

• Charitable Foundation for Educational Innovations

• Engineering group “Arey”

• “Radnyk” programme

• Kharkiv Institute of Social Researches

• Centre for Democracy and Rule of Law

• NGO “Ukraine needs you”

• Crimean Tatar Resource Center

• NGO Group of Influence

• Coordination Center ‘Human Rights Defender’