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Brief narrative |
MAYOR CALLED FOR FORCED EVICTION OF ROMA IN IVANO-FRANKIVSK
The mayor of the town of Ivano-Frankivsk, Ruslan Martsinkiv, was recorded on video on the 21st April demanding to know why Roma in the area had not been evicted by police officers and deported to Zakarpattya. Martsinkiv is a member of the far-right Svoboda party in Ukraine. The mayor initially uses the term “tsigany” (цигани) before switching to “Roma” when asking why the Roma were still in his municipality after he had ordered them to be evicted. “We’ve already provided a coach. Took them to Zakarpattia. Why are they still here?” asked Martsinkiv. When he was told that 12 people had refused to go when the police tried to deport them on the bus, he responded: “What do you mean, refused? Why didn’t you pack them off? There are the police. By next Tuesday you should resolve this problem. We gave you a coach. The police asked to be given a coach, and we gave it. Why didn’t you pack them and take them away?”
The mayor was told that after the eviction the police had handed ten Roma over to the Zakarpattiya police force, but that the others had remained in Ivano-Frankivsk, to which he replied that they “have to make a second round”.
His comments were greeted by condemnation by local civil society organisations. The US Embassy to Ukraine issued a statement urging “Ukrainian officials to speak out against intolerance and to ensure the protection of human rights.” On the 23rd May the Interior Minister, Arsen Avakov, announced that the National Police had opened criminal proceedings in connection with forced deportation of people from IvanoFrankivsk. Mayor Martsinkiv made an attempt at an apology on the same day and defended his decision to evict and deport Roma from the region. “First, I talked about specific Roma people. Regardless of nationality (ethnicity), everyone should be quarantined. A number of Roma people in Ivano-Frankivsk were violating the quarantine: they lived in our public square, harassed people, and demanded funds, they did not keep their distance and did not have any masks.
There have been a number of appeals to the police, to the hotline of the Executive Committee of the City Council. And when such work was carried out, the people registered in the Svalyava and Irshava districts of Transcarpathia expressed their desire to get help to go home because there is no public transport,” said Martsinkiv. Romani human rights activist Julian Kondur voiced doubts as to whether the Roma asked to be sent to Zakarpattiya, and criticised the mayor’s follow up statements. “Martsinkiv is saying that this is how they and the police helped the Roma to get home. But honestly, I have doubts that the Roma have really asked for it. Instead, I’m curious what the local authorities have done to help them in accordance with their rights. Obviously, if the Roma live on the streets, they are poor. It is interesting how the authorities interacted with them, whether the human rights defenders were involved, what social assistance they provided or offered…” said Kondur.
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