Ukraine without Kuchma

Ukraine without Kuchma
Mass protest in Khreschatyk, 6 February 2001
Date	15 December 2000 – 9 March 2001
Location	city of Kiev Shevchenko Memorial Park
Causes	Cassette scandal Investigation of Georgiy Gongadze disappearance Investigation of Vyacheslav Chornovil death
Goals	Investigation of Georgiy Gongadze disappearance Dismissal of law enforcement officials Dismissal of the General Prosecutor of Ukraine Mykhailo Potebenko
Result	The unrest was extinguished numerous arrests Case of the March 9 2002 Myroslava Gongadze v. Ukraine
Parties to the civil conflict
Government of Ukraine Militsiya Berkut Ukrainian opposition Liberals Nationalists Socialists National Salvation Committee
Lead figures
Leonid Kuchma Yuriy Kravchenko Taras Chornovil Andriy Shkil Volodymyr Chemerys Yuriy Lutsenko Yulia Tymoshenko Ihor Mazur Mykola Lyakhovych
Number
2,000–4,000 up to 7,000
Casualties
Policemen wounded: 12 Activists arrested: 203

Cassette scandal

Investigation of Georgiy Gongadze disappearance

The unrest was extinguished

Government of Ukraine

Ukrainian opposition

Ukraine without Kuchma (Ukrainian: Україна без Кучми; Ukrayina bez Kuchmy) was a mass protest campaign that took place in Ukraine in 2000–2001, demanding the resignation of President Leonid Kuchma, and preceding the Orange Revolution. Unlike the Orange Revolution, Ukraine without Kuchma was effectively extinguished by the government enforcement units, and followed by numerous arrests of the opposition and the Ukrainian-speaking participants. Seeking the criminal responsibility for those events was renewed with the election of Viktor Yanukovych as the President of Ukraine.

"Ukraine without Kuchma" was organized by the political opposition, influenced by the infamous Cassette Scandal, presidential elections of 1999, and aimed mainly to demand the resignation of the newly re-elected President Kuchma. The protests did not disappear untraced and resulted in consolidation of the democratic opposition which led to the Orange Revolution.