Indietro Council of Europe holds first ever international commemoration ceremony for victims of the 2018 series of hate crime attacks in Ukraine

Council of Europe holds first ever international commemoration ceremony for victims of the 2018 series of hate crime attacks in Ukraine

"You can hear from my trembling voice, how close this moment is to my heart”, said moderator Olha Vesnyanka, when more than 100 police officers, human rights experts and police trainers gathered in the Odessa Centre for National Minorities upon the invitation of the Council of Europe. The ceremony, held at the margins of the regional conference “Anti-Roma Hate Crime as a Challenge for National Police Forces”, commemorated for the first time ever all Roma who suffered from hate crime during an outburst of violence against Roma in Ukraine last year.

Documented are at least eight attacks against communities and individual citizens that took place in late spring and early summer 2018. In many of the cases a violent mob, armed with knives, tools and pepper spray, entered a Roma settlement, drove out the inhabitants and burnt the people’s property and possessions.

Marking the anniversary of the most brutal attack, an assault in the night of 23 to 24 June 2018 in the outskirts of Lviv, during which 24 year old David Popp was stabbed and died at site, the Council of Europe, together with conference participants from Greece, Moldova, the Netherlands, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain, the United Kingdom and Ukraine, observed a minute of silence.

Hallvard Gorseth, Head of the Council of Europe Anti-Discrimination Department, expressed that he was honoured to be able to spend this moment together with police officers whose job it is to secure human rights on a daily basis. “The Council of Europe is well aware that protecting the human rights of others can mean putting your own life at risk. No word or phrase can ever describe this sacrifice. Please be aware, that we are thankful to have partners like you in the field, with whom we can strive towards full clarification of anti-Roma hate crimes”, said Mr Gorseth in his commemorative speech. 

Together with Mykola Urchenko, the attorney who represents the victim family at court, and Volodymyr Kondur, Head of the Coalition of Roma NGOs of Ukraine, Hallvard Gorseth lit a candle in remembrance of David Popp.

Odessa 24 June 2019
  • Diminuer la taille du texte
  • Augmenter la taille du texte
  • Imprimer la page