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The URL for this article is http://emperors-clothes.com/cos/500000-2.htm www.tenc.net * [Emperor's Clothes] To read or sign petition go to http://emperors-clothes.com/petition/petition.htm 500,000 UKRAINIANS DEMAND: FREE SLOBODAN MILOSHEVICH! AND THEY'RE STILL SIGNING.... by Jared Israel [19 May 2001] In Ukraine, the powerful Peasant Party has collected 500,000 signatures on a very strong statement demanding that former Yugoslav President Miloshevich be freed from jail immediately. They have sent the petition and a cover letter to Yugoslav President Kostunica and others. Meanwhile, ninety-two out of the one hundred and thirty members of the Russian Parliament's Upper House have signed an equally strong statement demanding the Russian government take action in the case. RUSSIANS DEMAND ACTION The Russian statement was circulated among members of the Federal Council, upper house of the Russian Parliament. While the Council isn't the main legislative body it does include all provincial Governors as well as Mayors of the biggest cities. Individually these people have immense political and economic strength. Included are (for instance) the Mayors of St. Petersburg and Moscow. The signers, including members of Pres. Putin's UNITY Party, called on Putin and the Russian Government to take immediate action to secure the release of Mr. Miloshevich. Here is a translation of their statement, gotten by phone hookup: "We cannot understand how it is possible that those who used armed force to bomb the cities and villages of Yugoslavia, trampling all human values without any justification in International Law, are now trying to destroy one of the greatest Yugoslav and world politicians, the former President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, a true patriot of his country. "The attack on Miloshevich is an attempt to avoid the punishment for the crimes they committed directly and for encouraging genocide against the Serbian population in Kosovo. "We protest the policy of the United States and NATO countries in the Balkans and demand that the prosecution of Slobodan Miloshevich cease. We declare out support and solidarity for Slobodan Miloshevich in this most difficult struggle. "We appeal to the President and government of the Russian Federation: Take action to defend the former President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, a country which has always been Russia's most reliable friend!" The Council members have also signed the petition being circulated by the newly formed Russian Committee to Defend Slobodan Miloshevich. We will have the Russian Committee's petition translated into English and other languages as soon as possible. HALF MILLION SIGN UKRAINE PETITION On May 5th the powerful Peasant Party, the 3rd or 4th biggest in Parliament, launched a major campaign called, "FREEDOM FOR SLOBODAN Miloshevich!". They set up 449 action committees to collect signatures demanding Miloshevich be released from jail. As of 16 May they have collected about one half MILLION signatures. Here's what people signed [capital letters as per Ukrainian original]: "To President Kostunica: "Stating the will of hundreds of thousands of citizens of Ukraine, we address to you the demand that you release from the walls of his jail THE GREAT CITIZEN OF YUGOSLAVIA, THAT IS, OF THAT COUNTRY WHICH BY AN ACCIDENT OF HISTORY YOU LEAD. In demanding you take this action we count on your honorable relationship with the heroic past of your very much suffering but never broken people and with its best sons such as the steadfast leader of the Socialist Party, Slobodan Miloshevich." The leader of the Peasant Party sent this statement along with a letter to Yugoslav President Kostunica. We don't yet have the exact wording of the letter but in general it attacks the conditions under which President Miloshevich was arrested and explains in detail what the Peasant Party has done in Ukraine to organize for Slobodan Miloshevich's release. According to Ukrainian activists, the petition was signed by a number of leaders of leftist parties, by deputies who are Heroes of the Soviet Union, by directors of social organizations, leaders of NGOs, as well as prominent artists, writers, musicians, scientists, by students, by directors of various companies and so on. The Ukrainian activists are sending a similar letter to the United Nations, to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, to the OSCE, and to the leaderships of Russia, Belarus and Greece and the Parliamentary opposition in all the NATO countries. *** We're free, but we definitely need help from our friends... Emperor's Clothes does not charge a subscription fee because we want everyone to read these articles. Instead we rely on help from our readers. We have many expenses. For example, the cost of Lexis, our news media search engine, has doubled. Apparently Lexis figured out that we needed it to rapidly locating news stories from among thousands of sources over the past twenty years. So they doubled the price. At the moment we are almost $1500 (U.S.) behind on Lexis payments. We are also way behind on our long distance phone bill. We use the phone to do interviews, including overseas, consult on editing, on translations, and so on. 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