Ukraine prepares to mark its 12th Independence Day (08/24/03)

Ukraine prepares to mark its 12th Independence Day

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - Tens of thousands of people, including most of Ukraine's top leadership, will gather on August 24 to watch 5,000 members of the country's Armed Forces parade down the country's main thoroughfare, the Khreschatyk, as it celebrates its 12th anniversary of independence.

That evening, more than 300,000 are expected to celebrate on Kyiv's famous main boulevard and to listen to pop concerts at two venues on European Square and Independence Square, which will be followed by a lavish city-sponsored fireworks display.

Across the country, many of the nation's 48 million citizens will fly the blue-yellow-Ukrainian standard and raise toasts in their homes and on their dachas to the country's future well-being and prosperity.

But 32,000 people, among them 10,000 incarcerated criminals, will perhaps give the biggest cheer. By decree of President Leonid Kuchma, they will receive conditional amnesties that will give those in jail their freedom and clear those who are serving terms of probation and other types of sentences.

Volodymyr Liovochkyn, director of the State Department of Sentence Enforcement, said this is not Ukraine's first amnesty. Mr. Liovochkyn noted that such amnesties are common in many European countries, including Germany, which frees prisoners every Christmas. He explained that Ukraine would like to make its amnesty program an annual tradition as well.

In an effort to quell concerns over more crime, he added that there is no reason to expect an upsurge in criminal activity.

"Our experience has shown that amnesties do not lead to an increase in crime," explained Mr. Liovochkyn. "This can be seen from the 2001 amnesty (given in conjunction with the first decade of Ukrainian independence), when only 1 percent of the more than 29,000 people who had been freed committed new crimes."

In this year's amnesty, 20,000 or so persons who had been found guilty of various non-violent crimes and are now on probation or serving in work programs will be released from their sentences within three months. Another 10,000 who are currently in work camps, prisons and detention centers will obtain their freedom, also within a three-month period. Imprisoned criminals are eligible only if serving prison sentences of less than 10 years for non-violent crimes.

Mr. Liovochkyn stressed that all those who will be released are people who do not pose a threat to society. Many of them have acknowledged their guilt and have served more than two-thirds of their time as model prisoners. He emphasized also, that any person released under the amnesty program and later found guilty of another crime will have to complete the unserved portion of his current sentence in addition to any new term meted out.

The 2003 amnesty was signed by President Kuchma on August 9, his 65th birthday, and is to go into effect on August 24.

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