Yegor Sobolev: Yanukovich and His People Will Never Again Be Able to Hold a Public Office Position or Run for Public Office in Ukraine

Kyiv, 12 March 2014 – Organizers of terror against the Ukrainian people will be banned from holding a public office position or running for public office in Ukraine, said Yegor Sobolev, Head of the Lustration Committee at the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, during a briefing at the Ukrainian Crisis Media Center. A law to regulate this will be submitted to Parliament for voting tomorrow, he said.

The persons he refers to are former President Victor Yanukovych, former Head of the Presidential Administration Andriy Kliuyev, former Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration Andriy Portnov, and former Minister of Justice Olena Lukash. Mr. Sobolev also suggests banning from public office three former heads of law enforcement authorities: Prosecutor General Victor Pshonka, Minister of Internal Affairs Vitaliy Zakharchenko, and Head of the State Security Service of Ukraine Oleksandr Yakymenko.

“I proposed a three-pronged lustration plan. First of all, it envisages the immediate lustration of Yanukovych and other persons involved in the terror and bloodshed at Maidan. We call on the Parliament to adopt these decisions in a special political act as early as tomorrow,” said Mr. Sobolev. “At the same time, we support the Ministry of Justice’s proposal to blacklist the judges who supported the terror and effectively took hostages. We agree that those judges are no longer capable of serving justice. Thirdly, we are preparing a major law, or a series of laws, on lustration.”

At the same time, the Head of the Lustration Committee suggests complying with the recommendations of the Council of Europe according to which the officials should be suspended for a term of up to five years. Mr. Sobolev believes that prohibition to hold public office should only apply to those who were involved in mass violations of human rights, terror or genocide.

Mr. Sobolev also considers it appropriate to have a public discussion of lustration law in all regions of Ukraine. “People should understand what lustration means. This is not just a word Yanukovych uses to scare his grandson, but it is also a tool for creating a civilized country”, he explained.

Yegor Sobolev also believes that the committee is not the only body to carry out lustration, it should be done by all governmental authorities in accordance with the legislation which is being developed by the Lustration committee. ‘The amount of work is enormous. 400,000 people serve in police alone”, Mr. Sobolev explained. “We should understand who served this country and who served the terror”.

Yegor Sobolev is a journalist, public activist, founder of the Svidomo Investigative Journalism Bureau. In February 2014 he was appointed head of the Lustration Committee at the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. Currently there is no lustration law in Ukraine or legislative acts that would govern the activities of Lustration Committee.