Games for rights

The "era of democracy and of the Rule of the Law in Ukraine is over", while the "orange revolution" seems a distant memory: in an open letter to UEFA president Michel Platini Rebecca Harms and Daniel Cohn-Bendit, heads of the Green caucus at the European Parliament, launched the first cry of alarm on the situation of the East European Country co-hosting with Poland the European football games scheduled to take place from June 8 to July 1st. The nation torn by strong internal divisions gained primary media attention with the imprisonment of Yulia Tymoschenko, sentenced to seven years for abuse of office after what was described as a "rigged" trial. Now, the former premier considered a banner of post-Soviet Ukraine is in prison. Ten days ago she went on a hunger strike to protest against the harsh conditions of her imprisonment, while the pictures testifying to the bruises inflicted on her entire body circulated worldwide via the Internet. It’s hard to say which is the true situation in Kiev: the country still bears the scars of twenty years of political clashes, cancelled elections, riots, fallen and reinstated government coalitions, more or less explicit interference from Moscow, blackmails regarding gas supply to Europe… The strong man in power today is controversial president Viktor Yanukovich who described the possible boycott of European championships as an ‘international plot’.There remains the fact that European voices calling for the respect of fundamental rights and freedoms rose beyond Ukraine’s creaky democracy. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and interior minister Hans-Peter Friedrich made known that they might desert official European games Ceremonies (although the inaugural match is scheduled to take place in Warsaw). Similar forms of "protest" were announced in Prague and Vienna, and concerns were conveyed also on the part of the Italian government. In a letter to UEFA president, the vice-president of the EU Commission, Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding, wrote: "European politicians ought to reflect on the opportunity of going to Ukraine during the European football championship". A European commission spokesperson said that Barroso had “no intention of going” to the games in Ukraine, following the same decision by Germany’s president Joachim Gauck, announced a few days ago.In the above-mentioned letter to Platini Harms and Cohn-Bendit, pointed out: "We were enthusiastic about the idea of the sport tournament in Poland, near our neighbours in Ukraine". The decision had been taken in 2007, "implying, as was natural, that the democratization process and openness to the EU had to be sustained". But as things stand today, after the outcome of the 2010 presidential elections, the imprisonment of Tymoschenko and the nation’s political involution, Harms and Cohn-Bendit are asking UEFA and national football federations for a public statement, to be released "on the day of the official opening of the tournament". "It’s inconceivable that we follow the tournament in the stadiums in Kharkiv, Kiev or Lvov while Yulia Tymoshenko sits in prison nearby, having been denied medical treatment by doctors of her choice". The situation highlights the need for a public reflection – that has been coming to the fore now and again – on the relationship between sport, fundamental freedoms, human rights, and the institution of democracy. The boycott of 1980’s Moscow Olympics following Russia’s invasion of Afghanistan is the most clamorous example, albeit not the only episode in history. Sport, as described by de Courbertin, also has the major role of bringing men and peoples together to promote mutual understanding and world peace. In the case of the European football championship (which Tymoshenko had asked to take place for the joy of Ukrainian people and for national pride), the games could promote the cause of freedom.