Lyudmyla Leontiyivna Denisova; russian: Людмила Леонтьевна Денисова, translit=Lyudmila Leontyevna Denisova LIGA (born 6 July 1960) is a
Ukrainian
Ukrainian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Ukraine
* Something relating to Ukrainians, an East Slavic people from Eastern Europe
* Something relating to demographics of Ukraine in terms of demography and population of Ukraine
* So ...
Ukrayinska Pravda
''Ukrainska Pravda'' ( uk, Українська правда, lit=Ukrainian Truth) is a Ukrainian online newspaper founded by Georgiy Gongadze on 16 April 2000 (the day of the Ukrainian constitutional referendum). Published mainly in Ukraini ...
(15 March 2018)
Biography
Raised by her mother Nina Ivanovna Ankudinova (born 1934) in
Arkhangelsk
Arkhangelsk (, ; rus, Арха́нгельск, p=ɐrˈxanɡʲɪlʲsk), also known in English as Archangel and Archangelsk, is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia. It lies o ...
, Denisova graduated from the Arkhangelsk Pedagogical School (1978),
Leningrad State University
Saint Petersburg State University (SPBU; russian: Санкт-Петербургский государственный университет) is a public research university in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Founded in 1724 by a decree of Peter the G ...
(1989) and the Tavria Institute of Enterprise and Law in
Simferopol
Simferopol () is the second-largest city in the Crimea, Crimean Peninsula. The city, along with the rest of Crimea, is internationally recognised as part of Ukraine, and is considered the capital of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. However, ...
(1995).
Professional career
Denisova was a teacher at a preschool in Arkhangelsk from 1979 to 1980. For the next nine years, Denisova held different posts in the Arkhangelsk provincial law court. In 1989, she moved to
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
and became the legal adviser of the Crimean Provincial Committee of Ukraine (1990–91). From 1991 she worked in the
Autonomous Republic of Crimea
The Autonomous Republic of Crimea, commonly known as Crimea, is a de jure autonomous republic of Ukraine encompassing most of Crimea that was annexed by Russia in 2014. The Autonomous Republic of Crimea occupies most of the peninsula,
's Administration of the pension fund until 1998.
Political career
In 1998 Denisova became the Minister of Economy and Finances in the Crimean government., news.mediaport.ua In Ukraine's Autonomous Republic of Crimea, she served as Minister of Economy, Minister of Finance and head of the Treasury Department. Denisova was named Politician of the Year in 2001. In 2000, Denisova was detained for 24 hours and charged with power abuse. Denisova has stated she was persecuted for refusing to sign a budget document. This criminal case was soon closed.
Denisova was a member of
Batkivshchyna
The All-Ukrainian Union "Fatherland" ( uk, Всеукраїнське об'єднання "Батьківщина", translit=Vseukrains'ke obiednannia "Bat'kivshchyna") referred to as Batkivshchyna (), is a political party in Ukraine led by Peo ...
(
Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc
The Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc ( uk, Блок Юлії Тимошенко, БЮТ; Blok Yuliyi Tymoshenko, BYuT) was the name of the bloc of political parties in Ukraine led by Yulia Tymoshenko since 2001. In November 2011, the participation of blocs ...
) from 2005 to 2014. During the
2006
File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...
and
2007
File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...
parliamentary elections, she was elected as a deputy to the
Verkhovna Rada
The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine ( uk, Верхо́вна Ра́да Украї́ни, translit=, Verkhovna Rada Ukrainy, translation=Supreme Council of Ukraine, Ukrainian abbreviation ''ВРУ''), often simply Verkhovna Rada or just Rada, is the ...
.
Minister
On 18 December 2007, Yulia Tymoshenko, with a margin of two votes, was elected
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc
The Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc ( uk, Блок Юлії Тимошенко, БЮТ; Blok Yuliyi Tymoshenko, BYuT) was the name of the bloc of political parties in Ukraine led by Yulia Tymoshenko since 2001. In November 2011, the participation of blocs ...
and
Our Ukraine–People's Self-Defense Bloc
The Our Ukraine–People's Self-Defense Bloc ( uk, Блок Наша Україна–Народна Самооборона, ''Blok Nasha Ukrayina-Narodna Samooborona'', NUNS; until 2007 named Our Ukraine Bloc) was an electoral alliance active in ...
in which Denisova was elected Minister of Labour and Social Policy.
In October 2009 Denisova was ranked 15th in the top 100 of "most influential women in Ukraine" compiled by experts for the Ukrainian magazine
Focus
Focus, or its plural form foci may refer to:
Arts
* Focus or Focus Festival, former name of the Adelaide Fringe arts festival in South Australia Film
*''Focus'', a 1962 TV film starring James Whitmore
* ''Focus'' (2001 film), a 2001 film based ...
(six places lower than non-minister and fellow Batkivshchyna member
Natalia Korolevska
Natalia Yuriivna Korolevska ( uk, Наталія Юріївна Королевська) (born 18 May 1975 in Krasnyi Luch
).
2010 Crimean parliamentary election
Denisova headed the electoral list of Batkivshchyna during the
2010 Crimean parliamentary election
The 2010 Crimean parliamentary election were held on 31 October 2010 as a part of the general 2010 Ukrainian local elections. Unlike the previous election to the Verkhovna Rada of Crimea, they were conducted on the mixed member proportional rep ...
. Batkivshchyna did not win seats in the
Supreme Council of Crimea
Verkhovna Rada of Crimea or the Supreme Council of Crimea, officially the Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea ( uk, Верховна Рада Автономної Республіки Крим, Verkhovna Rada Avtonomnoï Respubl ...
.
2012 Ukrainian parliamentary election
Denisova was placed at number 38 on the electoral list of Batkivshchyna during the
Interfax-Ukraine
The Interfax-Ukraine ( uk, Інтерфакс-Україна) is a Kyiv-based Ukraine, Ukrainian independent news agency founded in 1992. The company does not belong to the Russian news corporation Interfax Information Services. The company pub ...
Interfax-Ukraine
The Interfax-Ukraine ( uk, Інтерфакс-Україна) is a Kyiv-based Ukraine, Ukrainian independent news agency founded in 1992. The company does not belong to the Russian news corporation Interfax Information Services. The company pub ...
(27 February 2014)
In September 2014 Denisova became a founding member of the People's Front party.
In July 2017, she became Ukraine's head of the permanent delegation to represent the
Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation
The Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) is a regional international organization focusing on multilateral political and economic initiatives aimed at fostering cooperation, peace, stability and prosperity in the Black Sea ...
.
2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election
In the
2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election
Snap elections to the Verkhovna Rada took place on 26 October 2014.
Petro Poroshenko, the President of Ukraine, had pressed for early parliamentary elections since his victory in the presidential election in May.People's Front.
Ombudsman for Human Rights in Ukraine
On 15 March 2018, the Verkhovna Rada appointed Denisova
Ombudsman
An ombudsman (, also ,), ombud, ombuds, ombudswoman, ombudsperson or public advocate is an official who is usually appointed by the government or by parliament (usually with a significant degree of independence) to investigate complaints and at ...
to head the Ukrainian Commission for Human Rights, where she led a team of human rights and constitutional lawyers.On the Trail of Russian War Crimes by
Carlotta Gall
Carlotta Gall is a British journalist and author. She covered Afghanistan and Pakistan for ''The New York Times'' for twelve years. She is currently the Istanbul bureau chief for The New York Times covering Turkey.
Career Summary
Daughter of ve ...
,
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
In February 2019, following the
Kerch Strait incident
The Kerch Strait incident was an international incident that occurred on 25 November 2018 in the Kerch Strait, during which the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) coast guard fired upon and captured three Ukrainian Navy vessels after they ...
in which Russia and Ukraine's tensions had dramatically increased and the
Federal Security Service
The Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB) RF; rus, Федеральная служба безопасности Российской Федерации (ФСБ России), Federal'naya sluzhba bezopasnosti Rossiyskoy Feder ...
had taken into custody a number of Ukrainian troops, Denisova was able to make contact with Tatyana Moskalkova, her Russian counterpart, via an impromptu meeting, and discuss the status of wounded Ukrainian prisoners of war. The latter had previously refused to meet with her after Denisova launched an official protest that she was not able to visit the Ukrainian wounded soldiers directly.
During Russian invasion she set up a hotline for citizens to report human rights violations and in her work she mostly focused on the sexual violence by Russian troops and the forcible deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia. She argued that such crimes must be recognized as a
genocide
Genocide is the intentional destruction of a people—usually defined as an ethnic, national, racial, or religious group—in whole or in part. Raphael Lemkin coined the term in 1944, combining the Greek word (, "race, people") with the Latin ...
against Ukrainian nation, and detailed many cases of
gang rape
Gang rape, also called serial gang rape, group rape, or multiple perpetrator rape in scholarly literature,Ullman, S. E. (2013). 11 Multiple perpetrator rape victimization. Handbook on the Study of Multiple Perpetrator Rape: A Multidisciplinary Re ...
s.
On 31 May 2022, the Verkhovna Rada voted to dismiss her, using the provisions of Ukraine's
Martial law
Martial law is the imposition of direct military control of normal civil functions or suspension of civil law by a government, especially in response to an emergency where civil forces are overwhelmed, or in an occupied territory.
Use
Marti ...
, for failing to facilitate humanitarian corridors in warzones, prevent Ukrainians under Russian occupation from being deported to Russia, and facilitate the protection and exchange of
prisoners of war
A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held Captivity, captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610.
Belligerents hold priso ...
. The deputy chairman of the Rada regulatory committee said that Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk had had to take on most of the wartime human rights issues. An open letter from 140 activists, media professionals and lawyers criticized the rhetoric of her reports about sexual crimes by Russian forces just before her dismissal.
Some NGOs and human rights activists, including Opora, questioned the legality of her removal. The
Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions
The Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (GANHRI), formerly known (prior to 2016) as the 'International Coordinating Committee of National Human Rights Institutions' (sometimes shortened to the International Coordinating Committee ...
(GANHRI) and the
UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine
The United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU) is a group of human rights monitors established in Ukraine in 2014 by the Secretary-General of the United Nations.
Creation and aims
The United Nations Human Rights Monitoring ...
(HRMMU) both criticised the procedure followed for dismissing Denisova, with HRMMU describing the dismissal as "violat nginternational standards". , a replacement had not been appointed. In June,
Ukrainska Pravda
''Ukrainska Pravda'' ( uk, Українська правда, lit=Ukrainian Truth) is a Ukrainian online newspaper founded by Georgiy Gongadze on 16 April 2000 (the day of the Ukrainian constitutional referendum). Published mainly in Ukraini ...
published a report alleging that journalists and the Ukrainian Prosecutor’s Office were only able to verify some of the rapes Denisova had spoken about publicly. Additionally, the deputy chairman of Ukraine's parliament regulatory committee Pavlo Frolov, said that Denisova's focus on reporting some crimes that had not yet been verified had harmed Ukraine's reputation and distracted media attention from other, proven crimes and problems.