Once again, hopes are followed by mistrust, followed by tumult, followed again by silence. This is about how we can assess the January 11 meeting of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) main speakers Renata Volvend and Hanne Severinsen with representatives of the Ukrainian mass media. It was quite a tense meeting, which the Council of Europe envoys themselves could not help admitting.
Incidentally, Ms. Severinsen failed to avoid certain contradictions. She said at the beginning of her statement, “We see that Ukrainian journalists are afraid to express critical views.” Later on, she disclosed that, watching the news for January 10, she noticed that Ukrainian television “paid attention to the situation concerning the disappearance of journalist Heorhy Gongadze.” According to the person making the report, “this is a good sign indicating a better future for journalists.” But then Ms. Severinsen again stated, “We will have debates on Ukraine in the Council of Europe, and this fact means there are problems in Ukraine,” including the problems of parliamentary democracy, referendum, and the freedom of speech.
What will this debate mean for Ukraine? Punishment, reward, or new recommendations? The PACE representatives failed to give a clear answer. Answering a journalists’ remark that if Ukraine is to be punished (e.g., expulsion from the Council of Europe, denying the parliamentary delegation the right to vote, etc.) this will only aggravate the situation of those whose who have already suffered (i.e., the common people), the investigators stressed they “had not come in order to take away one right or another.” Ms. Volvend even expressed the hope that “the Belarus option is, fortunately, not in store for Ukraine.”
“We simply must get across to the European public that journalists cannot speak freely in Ukraine,” Ms. Severinsen stressed
Only then can Europe think about how to help Ukraine, the other envoy, Renata Volvend, told The Day’s corespondent. One of the first steps will be assistance in establishing the authenticity of the tape featuring the top officials allegedly discussing how to get rid of Gongadze. However, the emissaries said this matter would be discussed in the Council of Europe, and only then it will be clear where, in what organization, and at whose expense the so-called Melnychenko cassettes will be scrutinized.
“If the tape proves authentic, this will mean a Ukrainian Watergate,” Ms. Severinsen emphasized.
Following their visit to Ukraine, the investigators will present a report with their view of the situation in this country. Meanwhile, chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on the Freedom of Speech and Information, Oleksandr Zinchenko, is convinced that PACE has applied a “progressive” scheme to monitor the freedom of speech situation in Ukraine.
