Friday

29th Mar 2024

Ukraine death highlights danger in EU neighbourhood

  • The 'Euromaidan' revolution in 2014 began with anti-corruption protests (Photo: streetwrk.com)

The death of an anti-corruption activist in Ukraine has raised the alarm on internal violence in the EU neighbour.

Kateryna Handziuk, a 33-year old activist and local councillor, died in hospital on Sunday (4 November), three months after her attack.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Get the EU news that really matters

Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

  • Kateryna Handziuk had exposed corruption in local police in Kherson, southern Ukraine (Photo: http://khpg.org)

She became a symbol of the growing danger for civil society and journalists after recording a video clip from her bed in September.

Some 40 others had also suffered attacks in the past year with apparent impunity, she said at the time, showing her own injuries, after a man had doused her head in sulphuric acid outside her home.

"Why do we encourage people to civic activism when we can't defend them?", Handziuk asked.

There were more than 50 attacks in Ukraine this year alone, international NGOs Human Rights Watch (HRW), Amnesty International, and Freedom House said last month.

They included other fatalities - people were shot, stabbed, or found hung in suspicious circumstances.

They mostly targeted those like Handziuk, who confronted "corruption in the local community", such as local police.

But lawyers, gay rights campaigners, environmentalists, and journalists were also at risk, the NGOs said.

Some 143 reporters had suffered attacks, including a fatal car bomb, since the start of 2017, Ukraine's National Union of Journalists said on Sunday.

Poroshenko

The spike in violence threatens the authority of Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko ahead of elections in March.

It also threatens his EU credibility as Ukraine tries to align itself with the West despite Russia's aggression in the east of the country.

Poroshenko vowed "to do everything possible to ensure that the killers [of Handziuk] are found ... and punished" when news of her death came out.

He did it under international scrutiny, with the EU commissioner on Ukraine relations, Johannes Hahn, saying: "Attacks against civil society activists are unacceptable. The perpetrators of this vicious crime must be brought to justice."

Handziuk's death also "shocked" Harlem Desir, the French diplomat in charge of media freedom at the the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

"The perpetrators of this terrible crime must be brought to justice," Desir said.

The OSCE, a security club, monitors the line of contact between Ukrainian and Russian forces in east Ukraine.

It recorded 230 explosions in the Donetsk region and 70 in the Luhansk region, as well as movement of prohibited weaponry, in its last report.

Corruption

News of corruption in Ukraine has in the past fed EU scepticism on building closer ties, in countries such as France, Germany, and the Netherlands, despite Western sympathy on the difficulty of reform in war time.

It has slowed EU decisions on financial aid and other perks, such as visa-free travel.

It now comes at unstable times in EU politics, with a pro-Russian government in Italy threatening to veto the renewal of EU economic sanctions on Russia in December.

But for his part, Poroshenko's general prosecutor and political ally - Yuriy Lutsenko - did little to reassure friends of Ukraine in the Handziuk case.

"The blame for this situation lies not only with bandit elements and poor work of the law enforcement bodies, but also in the atmosphere of total hatred to the authorities which some civic activists stir up," he said in September, effectively blaming her for her own attack the same day her video clip came out.

EU draws red lines round Ukraine

The EU has roundly criticised Russian aggression in Ukraine amid concern that US leader Donald Trump might break Western ranks.

Interview

Ukraine eyes €500m EU aid, while fighting corruption

Kiev is hoping to secure more than €500m in EU aid by July, amid its never-ending fight against corruption. The finance minister tells EUobserver the prosecutor general should resign - meanwhile privatisations of 3,500 state-owned companies go ahead, despite war.

US and EU breaking taboos to restrain Israel

The US abstained and all EU states on the UN Security Council backed a call for an "immediate ceasefire" in Gaza, as Europe prepares to also blacklist extremist Israeli settlers.

Opinion

Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult

Rather than assuming a pro-European Labour government in London will automatically open doors in Brussels, the Labour party needs to consider what it may be able to offer to incentivise EU leaders to factor the UK into their defence thinking.

Latest News

  1. Kenyan traders react angrily to proposed EU clothes ban
  2. Lawyer suing Frontex takes aim at 'antagonistic' judges
  3. Orban's Fidesz faces low-polling jitters ahead of EU election
  4. German bank freezes account of Jewish peace group
  5. EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania
  6. 'Swiftly dial back' interest rates, ECB told
  7. Moscow's terror attack, security and Gaza
  8. Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersJoin the Nordic Food Systems Takeover at COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersHow women and men are affected differently by climate policy
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  5. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  6. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsThis autumn Europalia arts festival is all about GEORGIA!
  2. UNOPSFostering health system resilience in fragile and conflict-affected countries
  3. European Citizen's InitiativeThe European Commission launches the ‘ImagineEU’ competition for secondary school students in the EU.
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersThe Nordic Region is stepping up its efforts to reduce food waste
  5. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  6. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA

Join EUobserver

EU news that matters

Join us