31 July 2014
Ukrainian prosecutors have halted their investigation of Kharkiv mayor Hennadiy Kernes, reported the Ukrayinska Pravda news site on July 30. They cited Kernes’s harsh illness as the reason. Following the collapse of the Yanuokvych administration, prosecutors charged Kernes with kidnapping, torture and making threats to kill during the EuroMaidan, during which he allegedly organized thugs to terrorize its activists.
Zenon Zawada: There are both positive and negative sides to this decision. On the one hand, it’s clear that Kernes has earned the trust of the administration of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and is working to preserve Ukraine’s territorial integrity. Kharkiv is a stronghold of pro-Russian activists and its destabilization could have undermined the current government. Yet Kernes has managed to keep the pro-Russian forces at bay, even enduring an assassination attempt for his efforts.
On the other hand, it’s clear that rule of law has a long way to go with the government applying and withholding prosecutions whenever it’s politically convenient. Kernes is alleged by EuroMaidan activists to have been responsible for vicious crimes against them, beating some protesters close to death, and they will continue to fight to remove him from office and prosecute him.
In the big picture however, Kernes is a valuable asset to the Ukrainian government for as long as he can ensure that pro-Russian forces don’t get a foothold in Ukraine’s second-largest city (population 1.5 mln). Importantly, pro-Russian moods in Kharkiv region were just as strong as in the Donetsk region, according to polls this spring. But the government and local authorities prevented them from boiling over, unlike in the Donetsk region.