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Lustration Beyond Decommunization: Responding to the Crimes of the Powerful in Post-Euromaidan Ukraine
Abstract
The 2014 Euromaidan revolution, which started as a non-violent demonstration for European integration, eventually gave rise to a nation-wide movement against the usurpation of power, corruption, and human rights violations. One of the main demands of Euromaidan protesters to the new government was to launch a comprehensive personnel reform that would cleanse the state apparatus from public officials of the Communist era (1919–1991) and those affiliated with the Yanukovych regime (2010–2014). This article examines the lustration process in post-Euromaidan Ukraine through the prism of earlier personnel reforms, mainly in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), and discusses the similarities and differences between them. The analysis focuses on two key features that make the Ukrainian case stand out across CEE lustrations. First, Ukraine's lustration reconciled transitional justice with socio-economic imperatives, such as the fight against corruption, not only as a discursive practice but also a legal matter. Second, unlike CEE lustrations the Ukrainian government implemented lustration 23 years after the fall of Communism and during the ongoing military confrontation in eastern Ukrainian Donetsk and Luhansk regions (Donbas). The article contributes to the literature on the evolution of transitional justice which has expanded far beyond the conventional redress for past human rights violations and may now incorporate peacebuilding and structural justice agendas.
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Notes
Social trust is defined as the propensity of individuals to trust each other.
The GKChP is also known as the Gang of Eight that consisted of eight high-level officials within the Soviet government, including Gennady Yanayev (Vice President of the Soviet Union), Valentin Pavlov (Prime Minister of the Soviet Union), Vladimir Kryuchkov (Head of the KGB), Dmitry Yazov (Minister of Defense), Boris Pugo (Minister of Interior), Oleg Baklanov (Secretary of the 28th Central Committee), Vasily Starodubtsev (Chairman of the Peasant Union of the Soviet Union), Aleksandr Tizyakov (President of the Association of State Enterprises).
Presidential Decree No. 79 “On Suspending the Activity of the Communist Party of the RSFSR” as of 23 August 1991. Full text is available in Russian at http://www.kremlin.ru/acts/bank/134
Presidential Decree No. 90 “On Property of the CPSU and the Communist Party of RSFSR” as of 25 August 1991. Full text is available in Russian at http://kremlin.ru/acts/bank/144
Presidential Decree No. 169 “On the Activity of the CPSU and the CP RSFSR” as of 6 November 1991. Full text is available in Russian at http://kremlin.ru/acts/bank/385
For a detailed account of the history of the Communist Party, including the GKChP trial, see Ogushi ( 2007).
All defenders accepted this decision, except for General Valentin Varennikov, whom the court acquitted on 11 August 1994, concluding that he had merely followed the orders of his superior, Minister of Defense.
Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation ( 1992). Verification of Constitutionality of Presidential Decrees No. 79, No. 90, and No. 169. Decision No. 9-P as of 30 November 1992. Full text is available in Russian at http://www.panorama.ru/ks/d9209.shtml
Yehor Soboliev, Head of the Civic Lustration Committee, cited in Piasecka ( 2014).
The Berkut special police units were dissolved in February 2014 in connection with their excessive violence and brutality against Euromaidan protesters.
In November 2014, Yehor Soboliev was elected to the Ukrainian Parliament and chaired its Committee on Corruption Prevention and Counteraction.
The Self Reliance Party is a centre-right, pro-European and Christian-Democratic party affiliated with the mayor of Lviv, Andriy Sadovyi.
Svoboda is a far-right, nationalist, and anti-communist party.
Batkivshchyna is a liberal democratic and pro-European political party represented in the parliament since 1999 and associated with ex-prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko.
Screening of judges was separated from the lustration of other state institutions. On 8 April 2014, the Verkhovna Rada adopted Law of Ukraine No. 1188–17 of 8 April 2014 “On Restoring Trust in the Court System of Ukraine” that established the procedure for the verification of judges. The law stipulates that judges who took politically motivated decisions, such as those against Euromaidan activists, would be subject to immediate dismissal from holding judicial office. The original text of the law is available in Ukrainian from the official website of the Verkhovna Rata and can be accessed at http://zakon4.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/1188-18. This article's scope, however, excludes any further analysis of this law.
The Ukrainian Democratic Alliance for Reform (UDAR) was a pro-European Union liberal political party headed by ex-heavyweight boxer and incumbent Kyiv Mayor, Vitaly Klitschko. It merged into the Petro Poroshenko Bloc in August 2015.
Full text of this law is available in Ukrainian at http://zakon3.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/1682–18.
The lustration registry of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine can be visited at http://lustration.minjust.gov.ua/register (accessed 5 February 2017).
Komsomol was a youth organization controlled by the Communist Party ( 1918–1991).
ATO (Anti-Terrorist Operation) is an acronym used by the government of Ukraine to refer to the military campaign against pro-Russian separatists in Donbas.
Law No. 3206-VI of 7 April 2011 “On Principles of Prevention of and Combating Corruption” available in Ukrainian at http://zakon3.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/3206-17 (terminated as of 1 September 2016); Law No. 1700-VII of 14 October 2014 “On Prevention of Corruption” available in Ukrainian at http://zakon5.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/1700-18#n25.
The Venice Commission is an advisory body of the Council of Europe that consists of independent experts (e.g., senior academics, supreme or constitutional court judges, or members of national parliaments) who advise individual countries on constitutional matters in order to improve functioning of democratic institutions and the protection of human rights. The Commission uses the non-directive approach, whereby its opinions are non-binding and do not impose solutions. For more details, see Hoffmann-Riem (2014) or visit the official website at http://www.venice.coe.int/webforms/events/.
For further details about NCB asset forfeiture, see Brun et al. ( 2011).
The text of the Draft Law No. 1707-VIII is available in Ukrainian at http://w1.c1.rada.gov.ua/pls/zweb2/webproc4_1?pf3511=60050
The Venice Commission (2015: 15) criticized this design, stating that “there is a risk that the practice under the Law, which is to be implemented by a range of public agencies, could either lack uniformity or open space for settling accounts on a personal/political basis or lead to too lenient an approach toward some of the lustrated individuals”.
The text of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine of 16 October 2014 №1025-r “On Approval of the Plan of Inspections under Law of Ukraine ‘On Government Cleansing’”. Available online at http://zakon4.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/1025-2014-%D1%80
Excluding the Armed Forces and other military units, which should be screened by December 2019.
Interview with Tatiana Kozachenko, Head of the Lustration Department of the Ministry of Justice, to Focus (5 October 2015). Available online at https://focus.ua/country/337922/ (accessed 5 February 2017).
The CLC Lustration Registry is available in Ukrainian at http://registry.lku.org.ua/dashboard