Brussels, 31/01/2014 (Agence Europe) - On 31 January, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton said she was concerned at the acts of torture and cruel treatment to which the Ukrainian protesters are falling victim, and she called for the acts to stop and those responsible for them to be brought to justice. “I am appalled by the obvious signs of prolonged torture and cruel treatment of Auto-Maidan organiser Dmytro Bulatov, who was found alive yesterday after having been missing for a week. Others, like Maidan protester Yuriy Verbytskyy who was found dead on 22 January, have paid with their lives for exercising their civil rights”, Ashton stated in a press release. She added that these are just two cases of the “continuous deliberate targeting” of the organisers of, and participants in, peaceful protests.
“All such acts are unacceptable and must immediately be stopped”, Ashton said, reiterating that “it is the authorities' responsibility to take all necessary measures to address the current atmosphere of intimidation and impunity which allows for such acts to take place”. “All unlawfully detained people have to be released and perpetrators [of such acts] brought to justice”, she continued. According to the Kyiv Post, 30 people have reportedly gone missing. It is not the rule of law but the rule of intimidation that is governing and terrorising the people, according to a European source who does not want to be named. The source added that it is clear that there are human rights violations.
On 31 January, Ukrainian journalists highlighted that journalists who cover the events are a target for the police. They are threatened and at least 60 have reportedly been wounded. The Ukrainian journalists called on the EU for support and they called on it to tell the government that the press and journalists must be able to work in safety in any situation.
Call for sanctions. Elsewhere, the Committee of the Regions asked the EU, on 31 January, to act decisively in order to ensure a peaceful solution that fully respects the rights and freedoms of the Ukrainian people. In its resolution, the CoR calls on the institutions of the EU to react firmly against breaches of human rights and the rule of law in Ukraine, and firmly condemns all violence and all forms of intimidation. Elmar Brok (EPP, Germany), the chair of the European Parliament's foreign affairs committee, says that violence and intimidation are not worthy of a democratic state and, if they continue, the European response must be sanctions targeted against those who are - directly or indirectly - responsible for the violence. On 5 February, the Parliament will debate the situation in Ukraine and is due to approve a resolution the following day. A European source has said that sanctions are not on the agenda, and underlined that the EU has several means of influence and that taking sanctions would be to lose many means of influence.
The European source said that the situation is very changeable and can fluctuate between positive and negative from one day to the next. The source said that martial law is not to be ruled out, and also said a slide towards chaos - which is completely possible - must be avoided.
On 31 January, the Ukrainian army called on Ukraine's President Viktor Yanukovych to take emergency measures to stabilise the situation, believing that storming public buildings was “unacceptable”, as are attempts to prevent the authorities from performing their duties. In the army's opinion, the escalating protests are threatening Ukraine's territorial integrity. Later in the day, Yanukovych enacted the law on the amnesty of protesters who have been arrested, albeit with strings attached, and repealed the laws adopted on 16 January against the demonstrators. (CG/transl.fl)