From November 12 on, there are real (that is, ideologically-motivated) political prisoners in Ukraine. The Zhovtnevy District Court of Zaporizhia that had started proceedings in the Stalin monument decapitation case this April satisfied all demands of the prosecution and the real plaintiff, Zaporizhia Regional Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine on that day, as the convicted decapitators have to pay 109,000 hryvnyas now, or the full value of the destroyed monument. The decision came in spite of the Communists themselves being in denial of the crime having happened from December 28 through December 31, 2010, that is, to the very moment when the monument was demolished with explosives by the people who are unknown to this day. Eight people, mostly residents of Galicia, were given three-year suspended sentences with one to three years of probation. The only Zaporizhia resident in this group, Eduard Andriushchenko was given two-year suspended sentence with one-year probation period, for the crime of sheltering the non-resident comrades for a night. However, he was the one who had an egg thrown at his head by an unknown Communist picketer when leaving the courthouse. It came to a fight, and, of course, Andriushchenko was “solemnly” dragged to Zhovtnevy District Militia Station, just outside the court. The militiamen have apprehended another two persons, too, but whether the young man who had provoked the fight was among them is again up to the court. Interestingly, a few Svoboda party members were prevented from picketing the court by decision of the Zaporizhia District Administrative Court, and such bans are already traditional in the city. The more numerous pickets by the Communists who shouted: “For the Homeland! For Stalin! For our victory! Fascism shall not pass!” were allowed to be held unhindered. Besides the ordinary militia, the district courthouse’s vicinity was also patrolled by Berkut quick reaction team, armed to the teeth, but even they could not or would not prevent the provocations and the fight.
It has become known after the trial that members of the All-Ukrainian Stepan Bandera Trident Organization intended to appeal against the Zhovtnevy District Court sentence in the case of vandalizing the Stalin monument. The news has been announced by the coordinator of the Nation’s Renewal Public Initiative Dmytro Kharkov.
Obviously, sawing the great executioner’s head off will not help. We need to clean up brains that have been clogged by mental garbage that Stalin-created system had produced.
