Maidan

Source: Kyiv Post, print edition, June 9th, 2005, page 1

by Yulianna Vilkos

Whatever illusions U.S citizen Joe Hendershott had about human rights in Ukraine evaporated when he saw how the country’s justice system treated a member of his own family.

Last week, Hendershott’s Ukrainian stepson was sentenced to four years in prison – a verdict that followed a months-long process that he alleges was marred by corruption and violation of the detainee’s human and constitutional rights.

Jail time

It all started last December for Hendershott, who lives in Evpatoria with his Ukrainian wife of four years.  That’s when his 18-year-old stepson Artur Zheludkov was arrested outside Mykolaiv after getting into a fight with a taxi driver.  The altercation was over a fare, which Hendershott said his stepson refused to pay.  The driver was left with a lacerated throat.

Zheludkov was taken to the Mykolaiv central police department, where the cops, according to Hendershott, “hung him from a broom stick, placed a gas mask on his head and beat him until he told them what they wanted to hear.”

Hendershott claims the police also got from Zheludkov the PIN code for his credit card; shortly after, he says, money was taken out on the card without Zheludkov’s authorization.

Hendershott said a police detective prevented him and his wife from seeing Artur for almost a month after the detention – in order, Hendershott alleges, to let the signs of torture fade away.

When the court hearings started, Hendershott alleges that he and his wife were advised by their lawyer to bribe the judge and prosecutor to secure a better verdict.  Artur was convicted of assault and attempted robbery.

“We ended up giving a little more than $3,000, and it turned out to be only enough to get him four years in prison,” Hendershott said.

Under duress

But according to Hendershott, the court’s ruling is invalid anyway, because the confession was obtained under duress.

“Even if he admitted the crime to the police, it cannot be accepted as evidence, because it was gained under torture,” Hendershott said, referring to the International Covenant Against Torture, signed by Ukraine 20 years ago.  After such a violation of a detainee’s rights, there could be no trial and no admission of any evidence, Hendershott said.

Hendershott says he has no other option but to protest.  He says he is determined to bring international attention to the case, to free his stepson and punish those responsible for breaking the law and violating international conventions on human rights.

“I am quite serious [that] this case will gain the attention of interested parties in Ukraine, Europe, and the U.S.,” Hendershott says.

“We want our son to be freed immediately and the people who committed the crime against him should go to jail,” he says.

Yury Krasnikov, a police detective at Mykolaiv central police department who dealt with the case, denied Hendershott’s accusations.

“Police never beat the arrested unless they resist,” Krasnikov said.  He also dismissed allegations of theft and guessed that Hendershott is making his accusations because “parents want to rescue their child.”

“In cases like this, it is practically impossible to reverse the verdict.,” Krasnikov noted.  “It’s only because the guy is an American that he can possibly make a fuss out of it.”

Valentyna Valkova, a lawyer for Zheludkov, refused to comment on the case over the phone.

Widespread problem

Meanwhile, human rights advocates say the torture of detainees remains a widespread practice in the country.  They maintain it will take years to eliminate the problems that infect all levels of the law enforcement hierarchy.

Yevgeniy Zakharov, head of the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, which investigates cases of torture and ill-treatment from all over Ukraine, says there has been no noticeable progress in fighting the problem since the government of President Viktor Yushchenko took office in January.

“We continue to receive information about the systematic violation of human rights of the arrested, including torture by police officers who need confessions from detainees,” Zakharov said.

“The only difference is that the punishers are more careful now.  If earlier they tormented a victim openly, now they are putting masks on or covering the victim’s face,” he said.

Zakharov says that people are often afraid to report such cases, fearing even worse abuse.  This makes calculating even rough statistics practically impossible.

Still, the Group’s Center for Professional Protection Against Tortute has opened more than 40 criminal cases against law enforcement officers since its foundation in 2003, Zakharov said.

Some response

Hendershott’s appeals are already getting responses from human rights activists and international organizations, like Amnesty International, which is looking into the case.

U.S. citizen Terry Hallman, a Kharkiv-based human rights advocate who has been contacting local anti-corruption committees regarding the case, says that for him helping Artur is “a matter of principle.”

Hallman has been keeping an eye on corruption in Ukraine since last year, when he halted his economic development project in Crimea because he was not willing to spend money on bribes for corrupt officials.  He decided to wait for better times and felt like this could be the right moment to invest.  But learning about Artur’s case may make him wait more.

“I see it not as Artur being on trial, but as Ukraine being on trial,” said Hallman.

“I want to check if it’s really possible to obtain justice in this country now.  After all, the Orange Revolution was all about justice and anti-corruption, wasn’t it?” he asked.