14:45 15.05.2017 | Все новости раздела "Прогрессивная Социалистическая Партия Украины"
UKRAINE: NAZI HIT SQUADS ATTACK POLITICAL LEADERS NATALIA VITRENKO AND VLADIMIR MARCHENKO
May 12, 2017 (EIRNS)–On Victory over Fascism Day, May 9, Neo-Nazi "National Corps" (former Azov Battalion unit) staged a new attack on Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine (PSPU) leaders Dr. Natalia Vitrenko and Vladimir Marchenko. Early that morning, as the USA, Canada and European countries had celebrated V-E Day (May 8), the 72nd anniversary of the Nazi surrender in World War II, and the countries formerly in the Soviet Union prepared for their customary marking of the occasion as Victory Day, May 9, these leading anti-fascists in Ukraine, both of them former members of Parliament, heard their doorbells ring and threatening voices outside in the hallways. Gangs from the neo-Nazi "National Corps Party," formerly a unit of the neo-Nazi Azov Battalion under the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs, were attempting to break down the doors of their apartments. During a five-hour stand-off, police refused to remove the attackers forcibly. The neo-Nazis declared that their purpose was to prevent Vitrenko and her PSPU from holding Victory Day rallies or taking part in the Immortal Regiment march, in which people in Kiev, as in cities throughout the world, were set to honor family members who died fighting fascism, or survived as veterans of the war.
Vitrenko is famous not only for her now nearly quarter-century-long battle against the destruction of Ukraine through the imposition of neoliberal monetarist economic policies, but also for warning for two decades of an insurgent fascist movement in Ukraine, marching under Nazi-derived banners and those of Ukrainian 20th-century fascist Stepan Bandera’s Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists. Even after her warnings came true, when the neo-Nazis provided shock troops in the U.S.- and EU-backed coup of February 2014 that overthrew the elected President of Ukraine, Victor Yanukovych, Vitrenko has continued to fight to expose them and their backing from the West.
In October of last year, in the latest of a long series of dirty tricks, the PSPU’s national headquarters and all the party’s records of 20 years were seized on the pretext of a commercial dispute, then turned over to the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), which continues to gestate a case against Vitrenko on trumped-up charges of "separatism."
On May 4, 2017, Vitrenko addressed an Appeal to world leaders "to review the situation around the gross violation of the rights of citizens of Ukraine to freedom of speech, freedom of thought, freedom of expression of their views and convictions, freedom of association in political parties and public organizations, and freedom of assembly for the peaceful conduct of actions, rallies and demonstrations." Addressing U.S. President Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, as well as President Petro Poroshenko and other Ukrainian government officials, Vitrenko cited recent threats against her, by name, made in the Ukrainian media by individuals linked with the National Corps and affiliated neo-Nazi groups like Right Sector. She concluded, "It is my deep conviction, that if the world community fails to condemn these processes in Ukraine and to force the President of Ukraine and its law enforcement agencies to carry out their obligations to defend the rights and freedoms of the citizens of Ukraine and to put a stop to the activity of the right-wing radicals, then a Nazi state will be formed in the center of Europe in the near future, and this will give rise to a Third World War."
In a communication today to friends abroad, Vitrenko voiced hope that Western leaders could be organized to pressure the Ukrainian government to put a stop to the attacks on the PSPU by the Azov Battalion and its political spin-offs like the National Corps party. She noted, especially, that the U.S. Congress has officially recognized that Azov is "neo-Nazi." Dr. Vitrenko situated the attacks on her party within an evaluation of the political situation in Ukraine, where one current scenario is for a military coup to be staged by Internal Affairs Minister Avakov and allies of his who have also been sponsors of the neo-Nazi gangs.
The following PSPU statements on the latest developments are provided in English below:
* May 4, Appeal by Vitrenko to Merkel, Putin, Trump, and Poroshenko;
* May 9, "Unchained Nazis commit acts of terror against Vitrenko and Marchenko on May 9," statement by Natalia Vitrenko to President Poroshenko and other Ukrainian officials, issued after the attack;
* May 10, "Natalia Vitrenko says physical reprisals against her and Vladimir Marchenko were planned for May 9" (introduction to video statement, includes photos);
* May 10, "Political terror: Azov neo-Nazis continue persecution of PSPU," article by PSPU political commentator Victor Silenko, detailing the escalation against Vitrenko throughout 2016-2017.
The Russian-language originals are available at
Источник:
Обсудить новость на Форуме