CBC News World
Parliament votes to put fugitive president Yanukovych before International Criminal Court
Thomson Reuters Posted: Feb 25, 2014 2:33 AM ET Last Updated: Feb 25, 2014 5:02 PM ET
A
Russian armoured personnel carrier is driven on a street in Sevastopol,
Ukraine's Black Sea Port that hosts a major Russian navy base. Ethnic
Russians in the region are deeply suspicious of the new Ukrainian
authorities who replaced fugitive Russia-backed President Viktor
Yanukovych. (Andrew Lubimov/Associated Press)
As a Russian flag flew Tuesday in front of the city council building in Sevastopol — a key Crimean port where Russia's Black Sea Fleet is based — an armoured Russian personnel carrier and two trucks full of troops made a rare appearance on the streets of the city.
The Crimean Peninsula — a pro-Russian region about the size of Massachusetts or Belgium — is a tinder pot in the making.
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"Bandits have come to power," said Vyacheslav Tokarev, a 39-year-old construction worker in Sevastopol. "I'm ready to take arms to fight the fascists who have seized power in Kyiv."
A
portrait of Ukraine's ousted president Viktor Yanukovych, used for a
game of darts, is displayed at Kyiv's Maidan. (Marko
Drobnjakovic/Associated Press)
A resolution, overwhelmingly supported by the assembly, linked Yanukovych, who was ousted on Saturday and is on the run, to police violence against protesters which had caused the deaths of more than 100 citizens from Ukraine and other states and injured 2,000.
The resolution said two of Yanukovych's close allies — former interior minister Vitaly Zakharchenko and former prosecutor-general Viktor Pshonka who are also being sought by the authorities — should also be sent for trial at the ICC, which is based in The Hague.
Over the three months of street unrest and anti-government protests, it said, authorities under Yanukovych had systematically abused their power.
Methods of torture, used by police against protesters, included holding activists naked in temperatures of 15 degrees below freezing, it said.
Wanted for 'mass murder'
"Parliament asks the International Criminal Court to hold Viktor Yanukovych and other high-level people criminally responsible for "issuing and carrying out openly criminal orders," it said.'If you consider Kalashnikov-toting people in black masks who are roaming Kyiv to be the government, then it will be hard for us to work with that government'- Russian Prime Minister Dmitry MedvedevOleh Myrny, a deputy of the nationalist Svoboda (Freedom) party, said: "If we don't take this decision, we will not move forward."
A spokesman for the court said on Tuesday it had not received a request from the Ukrainian government to investigate the events leading up to Yanukovych ouster.
"A government can make a declaration accepting the court's jurisdiction for past events," said court spokesman Fadi El Abdallah, adding that it would then be up to the court's prosecutor to decide whether to open an investigation.
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The Vancouver Sun
Rally in pro-Russian region of Crimea decries the 'bandits' in Kyiv forming new government
John
Lenczuk, red scarf, holds a sign with pictures of some of those who
died at Euromaidan. Lenczuk's son, Dimitri Lenczuk, mustache, stands to
his left holding a similar sign (not shown). Ukrainian-Americans rallied
at the Consulate General of Ukraine in New York City on Sunday, Feb.
23, 2014. Ukrainians were there to ask for continuing support from the
U.S. as well as to remember the ones who died at Euromaidan and
celebrate their victory in ousting Viktor Yanukovych from office over
the weekend.(AP Photo/Northjersey.com, Kevin R. Wexler)
SEVASTOPOL,
Ukraine - Dozens of pro-Russian protesters rallied Tuesday in the
Crimean Peninsula against "the bandits" in Kyiv who are trying to form a
new government, with some even speaking of secession, and a Russian
lawmaker stoked their passions by promising that Moscow will protect
them.
"Russia, save us!" some chanted.
An armoured personnel carrier and two trucks full of Russian troops made a rare appearance on the streets of the port city where the Kremlin's Black Sea Fleet is based. A Russian flag fluttered in front of the city council building, replacing the Ukrainian flag that demonstrators had torn down a day earlier.
The protesters pleaded with Moscow to protect them from the new authorities who forced President Viktor Yanukovych to flee the capital and go into hiding.
"Bandits have come to power," said Vyacheslav Tokarev, a 39-year-old construction worker. "I'm ready to take arms to fight the fascists who have seized power in Kyiv."
Yanukovych was reportedly last seen in the Crimea, a staunchly pro-Russian region the size of Massachusetts. Law enforcement agencies have issued an arrest warrant for him over the killing of 82 people, mainly protesters, last week in the bloodiest violence in Ukraine's post-Soviet history.
His former chief of staff, Andriy Klyuyev, was wounded by gunfire Monday and hospitalized, spokesman Artem Petrenko told The Associated Press. It wasn't clear where in Ukraine the shooting took place.
The protesters gathered for a third day in front of administrative buildings in Sevastopol and in other Crimean cities in the pro-Moscow region in the southern Ukraine. Protests on Sunday numbered in the thousands.
"We won't allow them to wipe their feet on us," said Anatoly Mareta, wearing the colours of the Russian flag on his arm. "Only Russia will be able to protect the Crimea."
"I hope for the Ossetian way," he added — a reference to the brief but fierce 2008 war in which Russian tanks and troops helped Georgia's separatist provinces of South Ossetia and Abkhazia to break free. Russia has recognized both as independence states, but few other nations have.
Russia, which has thousands of Black Sea Fleet seamen at its base, so far has refrained from any sharp moves in Ukraine's political turmoil, but could be drawn into the fray if there are confrontations between the population in Crimea and the supporters of the new authorities.
The open movement of Russian military vehicles — normally avoided in Sevastopol at Ukraine's request — was seen as a reflection of the tensions in the city.
A senior Russian lawmaker promised protesters that his government will protect its Russian-speaking compatriots in the southern and eastern parts of Ukraine that tilt heavily toward Moscow.
"If lives and health of our compatriots are in danger, we won't stay aside," Leonid Slutsky told activists in Simferopol, the regional capital of Crimea.
Slutsky, who heads a parliamentary committee in charge of relations with other ex-Soviet republics, also promised that the Russian parliament is considering a bill to offer Crimea residents and others in Ukraine a quick way of getting Russian citizenship.
He also declared
that Yanukovych remains the only legitimate leader of Ukraine, adding
there is a "big question mark" over the legitimacy of the decisions made
by the Ukrainian parliament since he left the seat of power."Russia, save us!" some chanted.
An armoured personnel carrier and two trucks full of Russian troops made a rare appearance on the streets of the port city where the Kremlin's Black Sea Fleet is based. A Russian flag fluttered in front of the city council building, replacing the Ukrainian flag that demonstrators had torn down a day earlier.
The protesters pleaded with Moscow to protect them from the new authorities who forced President Viktor Yanukovych to flee the capital and go into hiding.
"Bandits have come to power," said Vyacheslav Tokarev, a 39-year-old construction worker. "I'm ready to take arms to fight the fascists who have seized power in Kyiv."
Yanukovych was reportedly last seen in the Crimea, a staunchly pro-Russian region the size of Massachusetts. Law enforcement agencies have issued an arrest warrant for him over the killing of 82 people, mainly protesters, last week in the bloodiest violence in Ukraine's post-Soviet history.
His former chief of staff, Andriy Klyuyev, was wounded by gunfire Monday and hospitalized, spokesman Artem Petrenko told The Associated Press. It wasn't clear where in Ukraine the shooting took place.
The protesters gathered for a third day in front of administrative buildings in Sevastopol and in other Crimean cities in the pro-Moscow region in the southern Ukraine. Protests on Sunday numbered in the thousands.
"We won't allow them to wipe their feet on us," said Anatoly Mareta, wearing the colours of the Russian flag on his arm. "Only Russia will be able to protect the Crimea."
"I hope for the Ossetian way," he added — a reference to the brief but fierce 2008 war in which Russian tanks and troops helped Georgia's separatist provinces of South Ossetia and Abkhazia to break free. Russia has recognized both as independence states, but few other nations have.
Russia, which has thousands of Black Sea Fleet seamen at its base, so far has refrained from any sharp moves in Ukraine's political turmoil, but could be drawn into the fray if there are confrontations between the population in Crimea and the supporters of the new authorities.
The open movement of Russian military vehicles — normally avoided in Sevastopol at Ukraine's request — was seen as a reflection of the tensions in the city.
A senior Russian lawmaker promised protesters that his government will protect its Russian-speaking compatriots in the southern and eastern parts of Ukraine that tilt heavily toward Moscow.
"If lives and health of our compatriots are in danger, we won't stay aside," Leonid Slutsky told activists in Simferopol, the regional capital of Crimea.
Slutsky, who heads a parliamentary committee in charge of relations with other ex-Soviet republics, also promised that the Russian parliament is considering a bill to offer Crimea residents and others in Ukraine a quick way of getting Russian citizenship.
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