Andry Kosenko with Yulia Tymoshenko When UNA-UNSO radical nationalist party member Andry Kosenko, indicted for allegedly causing mass public disorder on March 9, 2001, was released from police custody he vowed to do everything to liberate his comrades who are still kept in prison.
Andry Kosenko is the first from a group of protesters jailed after March 9, 2001 clashes with police to be freed from prison with a ban on travelling. In December 2002, a court sentenced the group of 14 UNA-UNSO members to terms in prison ranging from 2 to 5 years. Kosenko got 2 years, of which a larger part he spent in jail awaiting trial.
Kosenko, 23, says he has far-reaching plans. His first priority is to help free his comrades from prison. Says Kosenko: "If more protests come, I will eagerly join them, because my buddies are imprisoned, and I must do everything to free them. I will personally take part in protests, but I am not going to fall for provocations set up by the regime to compromise protesters."
Incidentally, prosecution submitted 18 video tapes as evidence at the trial of UNA-UNSO members, saying they record public order violations by the radicals during which 71 policemen were supposedly physically assaulted.
Soon, other radicals are to be released. Three more UNA-UNSO members must be freed late May, their defense lawyer Yevhen Nykolenko says, with one to be released early June. However, their release hinges on how the court interprets the law under which the court sentence, once appealed against, is considered invalid. Since the case is tried by an appellate court, for this reason the protesters can remain in custody, says Yevhen Nykolenko. "The case can be covered by a number of legislative acts, and, if interpreted the way we want it, the boys must be released because the appellate court cannot sentence them to longer than the original terms. On the other hand, however, the sentence has been appealed against and, prior to its consideration by an appellate court, the sentence is considered invalid. You have also take into account that the boys have already spent part of their terms in jail during the investigation. The situation is pretty knotty and unregulated directly by the Ukrainian law. But, based on logic, a person should not spend more time in confinement than the term passed by a court."
Meanwhile, Andry Kosenko is greatly worried by the increasingly deteriorating health of his comrades still in custody.