No to police state

Igor Indylo died in the police precinct of Shevchenkivskyi District, Kyiv on May 18, 2010. Civil activists and journalists considered his death a murder committed by constables Sergiy Pryhodko and Sergiy Kovalenko. His death captured public attention and started a civil campaign. An investigation and court process have been ongoing since January 2015. The courts have not determined the cause of death.

According to activists, their goal is to punish all involved in high-profile cases of police brutality. Among these cases are:

• The death of Igor Indylo in the police precinct of Shevchenkivskyi District in Kyiv, which started the campaign;[3]
• The beating of an activist protecting the Park of Maxim Gorky in Kharkiv from destruction. Police beat the activist by themselves or did nothing to stop other men beating activists;[4]
• The death of Dmytro Yashuk in the police precinct of Sviatoshynskyi District in Kyiv. He was found hanged. Police claimed that he hanged himself, but others were convinced that somebody hanged him;[5][6]
• The beatings of Denis Malenko, Andriy Bondar and the underage Sergiy Ivanchenko in the police precinct of Leninskiy District in Kropyvnytskyi;
• The beatings of two journalists, Dmytro Stoykov and Yevgen Safonov, by policemen in Zaporizhzhia. The guilty policeman were only reprimanded;
• The systematic obstruction of meetings and protest actions by police.

By June 2010, the demands of activists became more global. They started demanding police reform and amendments to laws. Activists demanded:

• The strengthening of punishment for misconduct, especially for tortures;
• The expansion of the powers of the Ukraine Parliamentary Commissioner for Human Rights, especially concerning the prevention and combating of torture by policemen;
• The reestablishment of public councils in all territorial divisions of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and establishment of transparent mechanisms for public access to monitor police work.

Sticker of campaign asking people to come to a protest action

The banner of protest action with text "No to police state"

2010

• May 26 - Activists held an action against the beating of an activist protecting the Park of Maxim Gorky in Kharkiv from police destruction. The same day the story of Indylo's death was shown on the news on TV channel 1+1.[7] The story told that students claimed that police put pressure on them to force them testify and that Indylo participated in a fight before police came and sat in the police car already beaten and with his head injured. It also said that in the night between May 17 and 18, ambulances came to the precinct four times and emphasized that police made no statements about the death of Indylo.
• June 1 - The first all-Ukrainian protest action against police brutality titled "We don't want to fall - we don't want to die" took place. Protesters demanded to replace all management of police precinct of Shevchenkivskyi District, to appoint a parliamentary commission to investigate all recent high-profile cases of police brutality and to publish results of the investigation of the death of Indylo. Protesters promised to repeat protest action in case their demands will not be obeyed. The action took place in 18 Ukrainian cities: in Kyiv near the police precinct of Shevchenkivskyi District, in Kharkiv, Donetsk, Lviv, Lugansk, Zhytomyr, Khmelnytskyi, Rivne, Kirovograd, Ivano-Frankivsk, Ternopil, Uzhgorod, Yevpatoria and other near regional offices of Ministry of Internal Affairs.[8]
• June 4 - Activists held an action titled "Police is illegal" in Kyiv and Lviv which was caused by another beating of an activist protecting the Park of Maxim Gorky in Kharkiv. In Kyiv it took place near the building of Ministry of Internal Affairs. There was also a flashmob to support Kharkiv activists on Maidan Nezalezhnosti in Kyiv.
• June 10 - The second all-Ukrainian protest action against police brutality took place in 12 cities: Kyiv, Donetsk, Zaporizhia, Simferopol, Kherson, Poltava, Zhytomyr, Khmelnytskyi, Rivne, Ternopil, and others.[9]
• June 14 - A roundtable titled "Police and society: opposition or understanding" was held in Lviv with activists and Lviv Oblast police management participating.
• June 18 - The press conference "New murders in Kyiv precincts: versions of police and parents of victims" took place in Kyiv. Police representative Volodymyr Polishuk, journalists and others announced their versions of recent high-profile deaths in police precincts of Kyiv: the death of Igor Indylo in the police precinct of Shevchenkivskyi District and the death of Dmytro Yashuk in the police precinct of Sviatoshynskyi District. A police representative denied police being involved in men's deaths. Journalists, MP Yuriy Karmazin and relatives of Dmytro Yashuk announced results of their own investigations that rejected the police version.
• June 24 - Activists organized a procession from the Square of Contracts to Mykhailivska Square. Activists performed a theatrical performance titled "The kitchen of death." Apart from demands to punish those guilty in Indylo's death and those of high-profile cases of police brutality, the new more global demands appeared: to strengthen punishment for misconduct, especially for tortures by policemen; to expand the powers of Ukraine Parliamentary Commissioner for Human Rights; to reestablish public councils in all territorial divisions of Ministry of Internal Affairs; and to establish transparent mechanisms for public access to monitor the work of police and others.
• June 26 - The residents of Lubny participated in protest actions against police brutality titled "Let's protect Lubny residents from Lubny police." organized by the mayor Vasil Koryak. It was caused by the recent beating of a boy by police and systematic misconduct and brutality of local police.[10]
• June 28 - A flashmob against police brutality took place in Sofiivska Square in Kyiv. People laid on the pavement and their body contours were marked with a chalk.
• July 14 - Another protest action took place near the building of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Kyiv. It started because the police officers who killed Indylo were not punished. The police officers who beat journalists in Zaporizhzhia were given soft punishment, and activists protecting the Park of Maxim Gorky in Kharkiv were arrested.
• July 22 - A protest action against police permissiveness titled "Enough telling lies!" took place near police precinct of Sviatoshynskyi District in Kyiv. Relatives and friends of Dmytro Yashuk took part. Protesters demanded to do a proper autopsy of Dmytro Yashuk's body and to tell them the names of suspects of this case.
• September 8 and 9 - People involved in solidarity actions for the Kharkiv activist were arrested for distribution of leaflets in Kyiv and Lviv.
• September 30 - A press conference about police brutality took place in Kyiv. Police was represented by Volodymyr Polishuk; victims were represented by relatives of Dmytro Yashuk, Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group and members of the public initiative of Sviatoshynskyi District residents.

From 2011

• No to police state on vk.com