Skip to main content

International Online Campaign Meeting 25th August 2022


Free the Kononovych Brothers! 

Free all Ukrainian Political Prisoners! 

Restore political and media freedoms in Ukraine!

g159324.png


Speakers from the UK, US and Ukraine


Mikhail and Alexander Kononovych brothers, members of of the youth wing of the Communist Party of Ukraine (CPU), were arrested by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) on 7th March 2022, and tortured in a Kiev detention centre. 


The SBU have charged them with being “propagandists” aiming to “destabilise” the internal situation in Ukraine. 


Their trial began in Kiev on 1 July via teleconference. In their first speech to the courtroom, the brothers said their charges had been fabricated, and appeal to the European left: "Comrades, we appeal to you and we want the deputies of the European Parliament to visit Ukraine and be present at our court session so that they see with their own eyes and tell the whole world how the court is arranged."


The Kononovich Brothers have become symbolic of the thousands of victims of a brutal reign of terror, arrests, torture and murders unleashed in Ukraine since February 24 by the SBU, collaborating closely with neo-Nazi groups including the Azov Battalion and Sich-C-14 (well known for violent attacks on Roma settlements).


This includes the killing of at least 11 town mayors accused of collaborating with Russian or Donbas forces, the banning of all opposition parties and closure of all except one government controlled TV station. Ukrainian president Zelensky himself issued an ominous warning that “there would be consequences for collaborators,” and an advisor to the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs, Anton Gerashchenko, commented on social media about one mayor’s murder: “There is one less traitor in Ukraine."


This reign of terror is detailed in these articles, with extensive photo and media evidence:


https://thegrayzone.com/2022/04/17/traitor-zelensky-assassination-kidnapping-arrest-political-opposition/


https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10571663/Pro-Russian-mayor-city-eastern-Ukraine-shot-dead-kidnapped-home.html?ito=email_share_article-top


Speakers: 

Chris Williamson, Trade Union and Socialist Coalition (UK), ex-Labour Party MP and Shadow Minister

Alexey Albu, Borotba (Struggle), survivor of the 2014 Odessa Trade Union House Fire massacre

Steve Sweeney, former International Editor, The Morning Star, investigative journalist

Leonid Ildukhin, Union of Ukrainian Political Emigrants and Refugees (depending on communication availability with eastern Ukraine)

Phil Wilayto, Odessa Solidarity Campaign


(Additional speakers to be confirmed)


We also urge recipients to sign this international petition to Free the Kononovych Brothers:


https://www.change.org/p/freedom-to-mikhail-and-alexander-kononovich


Please share the petition and this message


Organised by: International Ukraine Anti Fascist Solidarity



NO PASARAN! НЕТ ФАШИЗМУ!


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Solidarity in Dublin

  Solidarity with Gaza and the Donbas in Dublin by Theo Russell Activists gathered last Saturday in front of the General Post Office in O'Connell Street, central Dublin, to call for an end to arms supplies to Ukraine and Israel, and an end to NATO aggression in Ukraine and Yemen and Israel's brutal military operation in the Gaza Strip. The protesters also called for ceasefires in Ukraine, Gaza and Yemen. The General Post Office, built in the early 19th century when Ireland was a British colony, is one of the Irish capital’s famous land-marks because it served as the headquarters of the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising against British rule in Ireland.  Activists  from the Truth and Neutrality Alliance that is based in Ireland, the New Communist Party of Britain and International Ukraine Anti Fascist Solidarity (IUAFS) took part  along with citizens from Russia and Croatia. The IUAFS is a united front supported by the NCP, Socialist Fight, the Consistent Democrats and...

Eco-Terrorism – NATO’s Dirty Secret War

A few days ago, an article appeared in the New York Times.  It revealed the decade-long campaign the CIA has funded in Ukraine sponsoring regime change, with military training and arms provision, long before the start of Russia’s Special Military Operation (SMO) just over 2 years ago.  NATO’s war on Russia has been decades in the making, a war of psyops, lies and half-truths with built in deniability of outrageous provocations by proxy. Russia has responded with offers of negotiations, diplomacy and finally the pre-emptive invasion of the Donbass to protect the rights of the Crimeans who freely chose to join the Russian Federation after their overwhelming support via the 2014 referendum. Conspicuous on the part of NATO has been the willingness to use eco-terrorism as part of its arsenal alongside the financial tools of sanctions and media manipulation, especially censorship, misinformation and disinformation. The blowing up of Nordstream 1 was the biggest man-made ecological d...

Ukrainians flee to avoid conscription

by Alex Miller Today most Ukrainians have lost their patriotic zeal. Guided by a common instinct of self-preservation and fear of serious injury or unwanted death they are not ready to sacrifice themselves. The new Ukrainian law on military mobilisation further aggravates the situation with conscription into the army. Numerous attempts of government to straighten out the mobilisation process have generally failed. Territorial Recruiting Centres (known as TCK) cannot meet the government’s recruitment needs. Large-scale military defeats, a high number of losses, an acute shortage of weapons, the complete absence of social benefits from the state, -- all these creates conditions when the majority of Ukrainian men prefer to flee to Europe and other countries.  According to the Belgian newspaper, Politico, during this time more than 650,000 Ukrainian men fit for service fled from the country. However, the actual statistical figures are much higher. The London Guardian on 29th June 2024...