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Details 13:25 21 Oct 2020

Back to USSR or Medvedchuk effect: why Stus case is still ongoing

Censorship's comeback? A little more about how Medvedchuk defended Stus, and why the lawyer doesn't want Kipiani's "The Case of Vasyl Stus" to be on the bookstore shelves

Illustration: Oleksandr Grekhov

On October 19, the Darnytskyi District Court of Kyiv banned the distribution of Vakhtang Kipiani's book "The Case of Vasyl Stus," published by Vivat publishing house, and ordered to collect 860 hryvnias as repayment for non-pecuniary damage at the demand of Viktor Medvedchuk, a Ukrainian politician and Opposition Platform—For Life party leader, also known as the attorney of the Ukrainian dissident, poet Vasyl Stus.

справа стуса

Outlawed poet

Vasyl Stus, a well-known Ukrainian writer whose works are currently being studied at schools in Ukrainian literature classes, died of a heart attack in a cold prison cell in the USSR Special Regime camp in Ukraine in 1985. He fought against the regime's political repression, called on party leaders, and the capital's population to condemn the arrests of Ukrainian intellectuals. For that, the Soviet authorities recognized him as a recidivist and convicted of "anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda."

His works were banned in the Soviet Union till he was posthumously rehabilitated in an independent Ukraine. Moreover, some of his poems were destroyed, because notebooks, entire collections he wrote during his imprisonment were taken from the poet and disappeared without a trace. However, the persecution didn't end even after the acquittal. In 2015, Vasyl Stus's bas-relief was to be removed from the philology department building of Donetsk National University, where the poet studied. Earlier, they wanted to rename the university in the poet's honor, but pro-Russian leadership didn't allow it. People suspect Medvedchuk interfered in the "history" before. During the filming of "Stus", they removed the episode about the last trial of Stus after approving actors in the roles. Any mention of Medvedchuk, the poet's lawyer, was completely removed from the film. Actor Hennadiy Prokopenko, who played Vasyl Stus, wrote about it:

"He (Medvedchuk – ed.) is afraid that we'll remember him as slaughterers' helpmate, not a Minsk negotiator," the actor wrote.

They didn't return the scene to the script. According to the film director Roman Brovko, they removed the scene "for the emotional peace of the dissident's family and reducing the timeline," not for political reasons. They also shortened other scenes because the film would've been 180 minutes, which, according to the director, is too much. The film duration is now 105 minutes.

There have been many discussions about Stus's illegal detention and law violations during his conviction. A book on the topic was even published in 2019.

Who is Medvedchuk?

The state has repeatedly awarded orders to Viktor Medvedchuk, though the fact doesn't negate his bad rap. In Soviet times, the train of the ideological regime defender, not of his own clients, dragged behind him when he worked as an attorney. Therefore, Vasyl Stus was not the only "client-victim". Medvedchuk, of course, doesn't want to bring that up, as it completely downplays him as a professional lawyer.

From the early 1990s, he was considered a member of the informal group, Kyiv Seven, associated with Presidents Leonid Kravchuk and Leonid Kuchma. He is the founder of the Ukrainian Credit Bank, Football Club Dynamo-Kyiv, "International Law Firm "BIM." He's been involved in Ukrainian politics since 1995 and has held various positions for 25 years since.

In 2014, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Andrii Parubiy stated that Medvedchuk could not mediate in negotiations with the self-proclaimed republics due to the fact that, according to Parubiy, since 2012, he had funded "the creation of extremist groups that have become the cause of the conflict in Donbas." The politician later forced Parubiy to apologize publicly to him through court action.

What is the book about and what does Medvedchuk have to do with it?

90% of the book "The Case of Vasyl Stus" by Vakhtang Kipiani comprises archival documents on the criminal case of Vasyl Stus from the archives of the KGB of the Ukrainian SSR. Viktor Medvedchuk was appointed as Vasyl Stus's attorney at the trial in 1980.

According to people close to Vasyl Stus (his wife and friend Yevhen Sverstiuk), Stus refused Medvedchuk as his appointed counselor, because "he immediately felt that Medvedchuk was a man of the Komsomol aggressive type. He didn't protect him and didn't want to understand him. In fact, the case did not interest him at all."

медведчук

However, Medvedchuk remained in the case despite the protests of the client, thus violating the legal ethics principles. The "Chronicle of Current Events" recounted Medvedchuk's speech at Stus's trial: "In his speech, the attorney said that all of Stus's crimes deserved punishment, but he asked to pay attention to the fact that when working in the Kyiv enterprises in 1979-1980, Stus complied with the norm; in addition, he underwent major gastric surgery."

Stus's wife, Valentina Popeliukh, shares similar memories. Interestingly, Medvedchuk didn't even get familiarized with the criminal case and didn't file such a petition. At this stage, another lawyer studied the case, Liudmila Korytchenko, who refused to participate in the process for unknown reasons.

According to Ukrainian lawyers Roman Tytykalo and Illia Kotyn, who also studied the Stus case, attorney Medvedchuk violated his professional duty admitting in court the guilt of his client when Stus was denying it. In fact, he refused to defend Stus, thus crudely violating the client's right to judicial protection. In addition, the lawyer violated the norm of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the USSR, being in force at the time. Namely, he didn't use all means and methods to clarify the circumstances of the case to acquit the defendant and didn't provide the latter with appropriate legal assistance.

The higher court later confirmed that if the lawyer had acted within the law, it could've led to the acquittal of Vasyl Stus. Instead, the poet was convicted, leading to his death.

According to the recollections of the people concerned, Stus's case isn't the only one in Medvedchuk's practice when he neglected professional ethics and moral principles. In 1985, the lawyer participated in the trial of the poet Mykola Kuntsevich. According to Kuntsevich, Medvedchuk "slang more dirt at him than the prosecutor." After Medvedchuk asked the court to dismiss one of Kuntsevich's motions, the poet recused him (wanted to refuse the attorney) and repeated the recusal several times, but each time the court dismissed it. In his final statement, Medvedchuk said: "I completely agree with the comrade prosecutor in determining the sentence. But, for reasons I don't understand, the comrade prosecutor forgot that the defendant has not yet served one year and nine months from the previous term. I think it's necessary to add this term to the current punishment," the court granted this petition.

So it's not surprising that in Vakhtang Kipiani's book there are many critical statements towards Viktor Medvedchuk, in particular (translation by Rubryka – TN):

"… whether Stus had the opportunity to choose "less evil." However, it is a fact that the lawyer provided and supported by the state security was Viktor Medvedchuk"

"… Medvedchuk admitted in court that all "crimes" allegedly committed by his client "deserve punishment"

"… he (meaning Viktor Medvedchuk) actually supported the prosecution. Why do we need prosecutors when there are such compliant lawyers?…"

"… lawyer Medvedchuk appointed by the state сrucified the poet (meaning Vasyl Stus)"

"… a boy Friday of the communist system, Medvedchuk…"

"Lawyer Medvedchuk also committed a crime against the poet by not informing his family about the beginning of the trial. Was he afraid of the KGB or was he always a cynic and an immoral type?"

The publishing house believes that Medvedchuk reacted this way because he understands his responsibility for the death of Vasyl Stus:

"He wants to erase himself from the history of the Stus trial for good and all because he understands that he'll never be forgiven," the Vivat publishing house stated.

What's happened now?

Автор книги Вахтанг Кіпіані

The book author, Vakhtang Kipiani

After reading the book, the lawyer took legal action against Vivat to remove some phrases from the book being evaluative mentionings of Mr. Medvedchuk as a person and an attorney and to compensate him for non-pecuniary damage, causing denigration of his honor and dignity.

On October 19, 2020, the Darnytskyi District Court banned the distribution of Vakhtang Kipiani's book The Case of Vasyl Stus without Viktor Medvedchuk's permission until the publishing house removes the phrases from the book which the court believed violated Medvedchuk's honor and dignity. The court found that some expressions in the book violated the plaintiff's honor and dignity. Also, the court collected 860 hryvnias from Vakhtang Kipiani and Vivat publishing house in favor of Viktor Medvedchuk.

Instead, the publisher disagrees with the court's position. They are ready to fight for the book being sold with the original content, so they will appeal the district court decision in the appellate court.

Цей суд – прямий і очевидний доказ того, що справа, за яку боровся Стус, – незавершена. Ми були готові до такого…

Gepostet von Vivat am Montag, 19. Oktober 2020

Even the Office of the President responded to the court's decision, noting that they were "surprised by some wording of the decision," although they did not question the judicial branch. In short, the OP reacted to the events as following:

  • the OP took note of the court's decision and Kipiani's statement
  • the work's defining Medvedchuk as a "character (actor) of the work" is "strange" because the piece is a documentary, not fiction
  • censorship is forbidden by the Constitution of Ukraine; the OP stated separately in the message

However, we should also remember the Office of the President has no authority to influence court decisions, so their statement "Regarding the resonant "literature" court decision" has no meaning other than political.

The Medvedchuk effect or bad PR doesn't exist – the book is sold out

The phenomenon, when an attempt to remove or restrict the distribution of certain information leads to increased interest and even greater publicizing, is called the Streisand effect. In 2005, she sued a photographer who took a photo of her home on the California coast, allegedly for a project that studies coastal erosion and posted it on Pictopia.com. However, after the information about the trial spread, the number of visits to the photo increased to several hundred thousand.

The recent events with the book about the case of Stus and Medvedchuk are a splendid example of this effect. Ukrainians even drew an analogy and joked, calling it the Streisand-Medvedchuk effect. This definition also appeared on Wikipedia.

ефект медведчука

According to the publishing house, they gave 15,100 copies into print on October 21. But orders are still coming in, so they can't say the exact number of copies to be reprinted.

"For example, right now, the public has joined the purchase of "The Case of Vasyl Stus" for libraries across Ukraine thanks to Oleksandr Todorchuk's incredible initiative. The number of ordered copies is increasing every hour. Therefore, we will make several editions, depending on demand," Vivat representative said.

Книгу "Справа Василя Стуса" Вахтанга Кіпіані розкупили за лічені хвилини і у видавництві, і в решти дистриб'юторів. Ми…

Gepostet von Vivat am Montag, 19. Oktober 2020

This being said, the publishing house decided not to speculate on the events and leave the previous price for the publication.

справа медведчука

The publishing house also offers to join everyone who cares about the flash mob: take a photo with the book and tell about the book history with the hashtags #SupportTheStusCase and #YouCan'tCondemnAnyone.

Друзі, просимо вас долучитись флешмобу. Розмістіть своє фото із книгою "Справа Василя Стуса" або це фото та розкажіть…

Gepostet von Vivat am Montag, 19. Oktober 2020

In the network, concerned citizens even offer to buy a book for schools and libraries.

Наклад скінчився, але завдяки корумпованим суддям буде додрук. Тому радо куплю й подарую одну таку книжку у якусь…

Gepostet von Valentyna Vzdulska am Montag, 19. Oktober 2020

The Lviv Regional Council will buy the book "The Case of Vasyl Stus" for the library of the Luhansk region. For this, they will direct 910 thousand hryvnias from the regional budget reserve fund.

🔹Сказано – зроблено!🔸📚3060 шкіл і бібліотек Львівщини отримають «заборонену» книжку🔹🔸Депутати Львівська обласна рада…

Gepostet von Олександр Ганущин am Dienstag, 20. Oktober 2020

The Voice Party has also decided to purchase 100 The Case of Vasyl Stus books for schools and libraries.

Медведчуки бояться правди❗️⚡️Основним інструментом боротьби з ними є правда. У Львові вони боролись з "Львівською…

Gepostet von Ярослав Рущишин am Montag, 19. Oktober 2020

Social media users brutally criticized what happened:

The Ukrainian artist Grekhov, known for his sharp social satirical illustrations, as always, showed the absurdity of the situation in a democratic state in 2020:

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