§ 01Who came out?
People of different ages and professions gathered. Not only locals and Kyiv residents came, but also active citizens who travelled to the rally from other cities. Artists, public figures, activists, volunteers, servicemen, well-known people, foreigners and others came out to express their civic position and their disagreement with corruption in the country.
The protesters carried various slogans, such as «A future for Ukraine without corruption», «Corruption kills», «Corruption brings the front closer» and others. They chanted: «Freedom for the Mahamedrasulovs!», «Ukraine without corruption», «Mindich behind bars».
The initiator of the rally, Mariia Barabash, together with other activists, announced that they plan to gather every Saturday at 12:00 on Maidan Nezalezhnosti until their demands are met.
The activists' demands:
1. Freedom for the Mahamedrasulovs, who have been held in pre-trial detention for half a year.
2. The resignation of the head of the Office of the President, Andriy Yermak (his adviser Tymofiy Mylovanov was a member of the Energoatom supervisory board, and his deputy Rostyslav Shurma oversaw the entire energy sector).
3. The extradition of Tymur Mindich from Israel and of other top corrupt officials who have fled.
4. An immediate and genuine judicial reform (the country must be a state governed by the rule of law, with life sentences for top corrupt officials and full confiscation of their property and their families' property, while in 35 years not one of them has served prison time for corruption).
5. The abolition of bail for corrupt officials.
6. The restoration of Yuriy Kasianov's unit within other structures of the defence and security forces.
7. Free-market economic reforms that cut the number of officials and reduce state functions to four: security, lawmaking/justice, international affairs and finance, because this is the main cause of corruption.
