Yushchenko makes pledge on regime's crimes
Ukrainian opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko promised today to prosecute government officials and their supporters for crimes committed during the last decade should he win the country’s December 26 re-run of the presidential election.
Yushchenko faces Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych in the repeat of the November 21 vote. The Supreme Court threw out Yanukovych’s victory in that run-off, saying it was invalidated by fraud.
Yushchenko singled out the murder of journalist Hrihoriy Gongadze as an example of a crime that will not go unpunished should he be elected. Ukraine’s President Leonid Kuchma was accused of involvement in the case, although he has denied the allegations.
“I have a moral obligation to Gia,” Yushchenko said, using the journalist’s nickname. “Those guilty will be prosecuted – not only this, but other important cases.”
Yushchenko spoke at his first news conference since parliament voted to grant key electoral changes aimed at averting fraud. The measure also handed over some presidential powers to the parliament.
With the momentum of more than two weeks of street protests behind him, a confident Yushchenko pledged not to engage in purely political retaliation against his opponents should he win.
The Supreme Court’s annulment of the November 21 vote dealt a blow to Russia’s President Vladimir Putin. The Russian president had openly backed Yanukovych, fearing that Western-leaning Yushchenko would lead Ukraine away from what the Kremlin considers its sphere of influence.
Meanwhile, Yanukovych’s native Donetsk region agreed to cancel a referendum on self-rule planned for early January. In a joint statement, Donetsk and other eastern provinces that supported Yanukovych in the run-off promised to abstain from such plans, which stoked fears of the country’s break-up.
The two presidential candidates mapped out campaign strategies while a few dozen protesters maintained a vigil outside the president’s office.
More protesters milled around the tent city set up by Yushchenko’s supporters along the city’s main avenue, but thousands of their comrades returned to their homes, schools and offices after spending more than two weeks in street protests.
A blockade near the president’s office remained in place, but Roman Zvarych, a member of Yushchenko’s campaign staff, said he believed it, too, would soon be removed.
Tension in Ukraine’s political crisis has abated with parliament’s adoption on Wednesday of the electoral changes in return for handing over some presidential powers to the parliament.
Yushchenko’s campaign chief, Oleksandr Zinchenko, said his camp would now focus on southern and eastern regions where Yanukovych drew most of his votes.
Also today, Kuchma named a new prosecutor general, Svyatoslav Piskun. He replaces Hennady Vasylyev, who was accused by Yushchenko’s supporters of covering up election fraud.
