The court ruled Friday that
former President Viktor Yushchenko's decree bestowing the Hero of
Ukraine award on Stepan Bandera was illegal, as Bandera was never a citizen of Ukraine (as he died before 1991). The appeal was submitted by Donetsk lawyer Volodymyr Olentsevych.
Olentsevych also appealed against Yushchneko's decision to award Roman Shukhevych with the Hero of Ukraine award giving the same argument as in the case with Bandera - not a citizen of Ukraine.
Bandera was a leader of Ukraine's nationalist movement, which included an insurgent army that for one period sided with the Nazis.
Yushchenko issued the decree weeks before his term ended in February. He called Bandera patriot, but the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a leading Jewish rights group, said Bandera's followers were linked to the deaths of thousands of Jews.
The Our Ukraine party intends to appeal against the Donetsk District
Administrative Court's decision to cancel the presidential decree that
conferred the Hero of Ukraine award on Stepan Bandera, who was the
leader of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) during the
period of 1930-1950.
The press service of the Our Ukraine party announced this in a
statement.
"The Donetsk District Administrative Court made a political decision
that has little to do with the law. It will be appealed accordingly,"
said Iryna Vannikova, the spokeswoman for the Our Ukraine party's leader
Viktor Yuschenko.
According to Vannikova, the arguments of the plaintiff and the court's
decision seemed far-fetched and built on political instructions.
"The hurried 'cancellation' of this decree through a district
administrative court demonstrates only an attempt by irresponsible
politicians to speculate on the issue of Ukrainian history, but it will
not result in Stepan Bandera being stripped of the Hero of Ukraine
award," Vannikova said.
Vannikova also expressed regret that such a decision was made on the eve
of Easter and described it as a political and, consequently, unjust
decision.
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