Free Ukraine’s Kononovich brothers, jailed communist youth!
As part of its suppression of political activity, the Ukrainian stooge regime has banned communist organisations and imprisoned their leaders.
The following statement was initiated by the Partido Comunista in Switzerland and has been signed by parties from all over Europe, including our own.
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More than five months have passed since brothers Oleksandr and Mykhilo Kononovich were arrested and imprisoned on baseless charges of collaborating with the secret services of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus.
Since then, there have been several appeals for their release, all of which have gone unheeded by the Ukrainian authorities. Numerous letters sent by communist and anti-imperialist organisations around the world to the Ukrainian embassies in their countries have never been answered. This shows all the arrogance and presumption of the Ukrainian coup government.
The silence of the other side, however, is no more surprising than that: it is clear that comrades Kononovich were arrested for their involvement in the ranks of the Ukrainian Anti-Fascist Committee and the Ukrainian Communist Party, which was banned following the 2014 coup and whose assets and headquarters were recently confiscated by the Ukrainian government.
This is in the context of the tremendous anti-union and anticommunist repression that has been going on in Ukraine for a good eight years, of which the massacre at the House of Trade Unions in Odessa (where even a minor comrade lost his life) and the recent banning of all opposition parties, most of which are left or centre-left, are glaring examples.
The brothers’ imprisonment constitutes a serious violation of their human and political rights. That the Ukrainian government, which came to power with the help of the west and neo-nazi paramilitary troops, does not care about the rights of its citizens is not surprising. However, the oppression of the Russian-speaking minority and the extremely violent war waged in the Donbass, where countless civilians have died under Ukrainian bombs, are exemplary proof of this.
The situation of the Kononovich brothers is still precarious and it is still necessary to mobilise internationally against this flagrant violation of rights and against the fascist-style repression of the corrupt and pro-western government of Volodymyr Zelensky.
For these reasons, we demand:
Switzerland
Spain
Italy
Great Britain
Serbia
United States of America
Germany
