EUobserver / Bad smell precedes Yanukovych trip to Brussels

Bad smell precedes Yanukovych trip to Brussels

ANDREW RETTMAN

Today @ 17:38 CET

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - A shake-down of leading NGOs and journalists by the Ukrainian security service in recent months has damaged President Viktor Yanukovych's pro-EU credentials ahead of his visit to Brussels on Monday (13 September).
Nico Lange, the director of the Kiev office of the German foundation the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung told EUobserver that the Sluzhba Bezpeky Ukrayiny (SBU) has created a "climate of fear" in the NGO and media community since Mr Yanukovych came to power in February. Mr Lange himself was declared persona non grata and detained at Kiev airport for 11 hours in June when he tried to re-enter the country. He believes the ban was ordered by the SBU because of his work to help co-ordinate the activities of opposition parties and because he published a Yanukovych-critical report.
The German pro-democracy activist, who has links to the highest level of government in Berlin, says his phone is still bugged.

Missing, presumed dead: disappearance of Ukrainian journalist deepens media fears | World news | The Guardian

Missing, presumed dead: disappearance of Ukrainian journalist deepens media fears

Watchdog warns of official hostility towards journalists amid loss of TV station licences and mystery over fate of investigative reporter

• Luke Harding in Kharkiv
  
• guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 8 September 2010 18.27 BST
It was 8.55am when the investigative journalist Vasyl Klymentyev set off from his home in Kharkiv, Ukraine's second city. As editor-in-chief of Kharkiv's Novy Stil (New Style) newspaper – a small publication known for unearthing juicy scandals about corrupt local officials – Klymentyev had many enemies and was rather cautious. He set the burglar alarm. read more:

Kyiv Post. Independence. Community. Trust - Ukraine - Is She Next?

Is She Next?

Several Yulia Tymoshenko allies are in jail, wanted or facing criminal probes.

7 September | Svitlana Tuchynska

President Viktor Yanukovych’s administration says law enforcers are finally cracking down on corruption. But the main targets are people close to former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who claims political persecution. She will lead an opposition rally on Sept. 7 outside of parliament.
Several former high-ranking officials under ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, this year’s losing presidential candidate, are either behind bars or on the run.
And now many in the embattled opposition are wondering who will be next.
President Viktor Yanukovych and top officials say the sudden legal troubles of Tymoshenko associates are not politically motivated.