The US, several EU countries and western rights groups have condemned the new anti-protest legislation pushed through Ukraine’s parliament on Thursday and signed into law by Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych on Friday 17th January 2014.
John Kerry, the US secretary of state, called the laws “anti-democratic”, saying: “They’re wrong; they are taking from the people of Ukraine their choice and their opportunity for the future.”
Stefan Füle, EU enlargement commissioner, said he was “shocked”, adding: “The decisions adopted are a disrespect of basic democratic principles and they not only raise concerns about the state of democracy and the future of Ukraine but also will have consequences for the partnership between the EU and Ukraine.”
Catherine Ashton, the EU’s chief diplomat, said in a statement “I am deeply concerned by the events in Kyiv. I am particularly concerned by the changes to the judicial code which impose worrying restrictions on the rights of assembly and on the freedom of speech and media, and are contrary to Ukraine’s international obligations.”
Thorbjon Jagland, the secretary-general of the Council of Europe, said the way the laws were “rushed through parliament without a proper debate is unacceptable. Any laws adopted by Ukraine must correspond to the letter and to the spirit of its commitments taken towards the Council of Europe.”
The German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said the course taken by Yanukovych was “a dead end … Repression is no answer to a contentious, political debate”.
The new laws were also criticised by foreign ministers from Sweden and Poland.
David J. Kramer, president of Freedom House, said, “It is disheartening to watch the democratically elected government of Ukraine moving further away from the democratic aspirations of the people of Ukraine.
The International Council in Support of Ukraine (ICSU), established in 1967 as a coordinating body of Ukrainian organizations in the Free World, has issued a statement condemning the introduction of the new anti-protest legislation: ICSU condemns new anti-protest law in Ukraine
