Even MPs feel unsafe in Ukraine, says UDAR
Members of the UDAR Party lead by Vitali Klitschko have said they are indignant at the incident with female parliamentarians at Kharkiv-based Central Clinical Hospital No. 5.
"Today convicts and all citizens are deprived of civil rights and feel unsafe, like prisoners in the country. Illegal actions are taken against the opposition, regardless of their having deputy seats," reads the party's statement on its Web site.
UDAR also said that the current Ukrainian authorities can protect their decisions and intentions only using brutal force.
The party stressed that the female parliamentarians' rights were violated against the background of the recent publication of the European Court of Human Rights' verdicts on a record number of cases against Ukraine.
"Kyiv officially lost all of the 211 cases!" the party said.
"Such a situation in a country presiding over the OSCE and declaring its European commitments is unacceptable," UDAR said.
The party called on the Ukrainian authorities to stop the lawlessness in the country.
"A feeling of impunity should not be a lull for those who have power today. Sooner or later they will have to be held responsible for their actions," UDAR said.
On January 16, Oleksanrda Kuzhel, Tetiana Sliuz, and Liudmyla Denisova, (members of the opposition party Batkivschyna) came to Central Clinical Hospital No. 5 to visit former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. They said the main purpose of their visit was to support Tymoshenko, but later said they were joining her civil resistance action and would remain with her until her demands were fulfilled.
Penitentiary service officials said they intend to "work with the parliamentarians." Ihor Kolpaschykov, the head of the Kachanivska colony, later said documents are being prepared for a lawsuit against the parliamentarians.
MPs Kuzhel, Sliuz, and Denisova were forcibly removed from the hospital on Friday morning.
The Ukrainian State Penitentiary Service reported that the women had left the hospital under a court ruling.