By Dr. Andriy Zhalko-Tytarenko
Overall, the Party of Regions and Guarantor of the Constitution, President Yanukowych are doing everything in their power to drive a “call for lynching” from the people. The pictures of the beating of the Kyrgyzstan Minister of Interior are becoming deeply entrenched and cherished aspirations of many Ukrainians. Things are obviously heading toward such a probable future. The recent events in Vradijvka, and then in Kyiv, demonstrate the growing tensions between law enforcement and all Ukrainians.
The grounds for this growing hate are very clear. Ukrainian police never behaved exactly the way police should act. Ukrainian police were always corrupt, and it was always the last place where Ukrainians could look for safety and protection. The Yanukovych regime, especially under the new Minister of Interior, Zakharchenko, still managed to change this negative attitude to an even worse one. But, never before did law enforcement act as a “helper to hooligans”, who perform whatever the regime wants them to do. This fundamental change was obvious during the latest opposition rally in Kyiv. Never before had riot police received orders from an unruly gang of regime supporters, and never before was the upside-down structure of the real “chain of command” in the operation of the police so obvious. Honest policemen cannot live and work in such a system, and some of them quit, as did the policeman who was assigned to take pictures of the participants of the public march from Mykolayiv to Kyiv. Dishonest policemen become a de facto gang, in of themselves, as it was in Vradijivka. The result can be one and only one: the general population will riot against the police. This is already happening in some places. The regime is not trying to bring police to order, instead it is launching repressions against the protesters.
This is a venue for violence and ruin, in its historical meaning. It is impossible to predict the future; there are many options on the table for future developments. Among them is the emergence of a new “Iron Fist” leader, who will come riding into power on the wave of a law and order agenda, promising to clean house. This agenda will be supported by the vast majority of Ukrainians. Then, quite possibly and in the best traditions of our history, the next “Iron Fist” will turn to absolutely illegal methods, and the winners will turn into exactly similar vampires, just painted in different colors. Lustration will be demanded, and jubilant crowd of winners will carry signs, shouting “Slava!” and “Han’ba!” in support. During the process of lustration, the remaining professionals will be kicked out of government, as well as personal enemies and those who did not stash the required kick-backs. It cannot be any different in a country with the current level of corruption. Ukraine is not Singapore or Georgia, with 4 million people, where everyone knows everyone; the hand-picking of the “good guys” and “bad guys” will not work. Ukraine needs a self-cleaning mechanism rather than a manual cleaning of the Augean stables of corruption and lawlessness.
Lustration is not what Ukraine needs now. Ukraine needs to restore the rule of law. After that, everything will go by itself, in a legitimate and civilized way. The main thing is that the system of state will start to work, and not just be directed by another Yushchenko, who will punish and pardon. Pardon, naturally, for a special kick-back, as it always was.
With a functioning judicial system, the result will be quite satisfactory. All those who have to be lustrated or whom people want to tear apart already accumulated long lists of Criminal Code violations, and are at large only because the law does not work. Once the system starts working, we will see a rotation in Ukrainian prisons; the innocent will go free, and those guilty of corruption, violence and murder will take there place. This is the reason why under the current regime, reform and rule of law will never work. They can not let this to happen to them, and they all know very well, how big the personal files are on each of them is, and how much will be added if the Law will be fairly applied.
The
question is: how to do it? In my humble opinion, the first two steps
of the new government should be:
1. Election
of judges.
This does not mean that “Medame” Fenya from Privoz can be elected
as a judge. The candidate must have all the qualifications before
registration. The punishment of judges for corruption should be very
tough. But elections are a must, and we will see who will
win –Kireyev, or Zamkovenko (for example).
2. Complete
rotation of the High
Council of Justice.
This can be done in a manual mode, since there are so few of them,
and they are all well-known. The High
Council of Justice
approves judges. It is not very difficult, and such changes can
launch the process of self-purification of the system.