Nelya Shtepa
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Nelya Ihorivna Shtepa ( uk, Неля Ігорівна Штепа; russian: Не́ля И́горевна Ште́па, ''Nelia Igorevna Shtepa'') is a Ukrainian politician. She was mayor of
Sloviansk Sloviansk ( uk, Слов'янськ, Sloviansk ; russian: Славянск, Slavyansk or ; prior to 1784 – Tor) is a city in the Kramatorsk district of the Donetsk region of Ukraine, the administrative center of the Slovyansk urban commun ...
from 2010 until 2014, when Russian paramilitary troops occupied the city. She was imprisoned by the separatists because she refused to fully co-operate with them, freed by Ukrainian forces, but then imprisoned again by Ukrainian authorities for alleged collusion with the Donetsk People's Republic.


Life

She was born as Nelya Ihorivna Lytvyn ( uk, Неля Ігорівна Литвин) on 13 September 1960 in
Sloviansk Sloviansk ( uk, Слов'янськ, Sloviansk ; russian: Славянск, Slavyansk or ; prior to 1784 – Tor) is a city in the Kramatorsk district of the Donetsk region of Ukraine, the administrative center of the Slovyansk urban commun ...
, then part of the
Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic ( uk, Украї́нська Радя́нська Соціалісти́чна Респу́бліка, ; russian: Украи́нская Сове́тская Социалисти́ческая Респ ...
. Shtepa entered Sloviansk State Pedagogical Institute in 1979, and began her career as a teacher in 1984. She later held administrative positions, and became a
headmistress A head master, head instructor, bureaucrat, headmistress, head, chancellor, principal or school director (sometimes another title is used) is the staff member of a school with the greatest responsibility for the management of the school. In som ...
. During these years, she was a member of the
Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. ...
. She began to work for Komsomol in 1987. From 1990, she worked in various enterprises as a sales director, and then in some charities. In the 2000s, she joined the
Party of Regions The Party of Regions ( uk, Партія регіонів, Partiia rehioniv, ; russian: Партия регионов, Partiya regionov) was a pro-Russian political party in Ukraine formed in late 1997 that then grew to be the biggest party of U ...
. She was elected mayor of Sloviansk on 31 October 2010, winning more than 60% of the vote.


Mayor of Sloviansk during Siege of Sloviansk

Amidst rising unrest in eastern and southern Ukraine, separatist militants seized a police station in the city of Sloviansk on 13 April 2014. At the time of the seizure, Mayor Shtepa spoke in support of militants, saying that they were local residents, and that she agreed that a referendum on the status of the
Donbass The Donbas or Donbass (, ; uk, Донба́с ; russian: Донба́сс ) is a historical, cultural, and economic region in eastern Ukraine. Parts of the Donbas are controlled by Russian separatist groups as a result of the Russo-Ukrai ...
region should be held. On the same day, the
Ukrainian government The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine ( uk, Кабінет Міністрів України, translit=Kabinet Ministriv Ukrainy; shortened to CabMin), commonly referred to as the Government of Ukraine ( uk, Уряд України, ''Uriad Ukrai ...
launched a military operation to reclaim government buildings occupied by pro-Russian militants across the region. As this operation began, Shtepa said that she did not actually support the separatists, and that their actions were "an occupation". She said that she had only pretended to support them, in an effort to free dozens of hostages held in Sloviansk city buildings that the separatists had seized. Separatist militant Vyacheslav Ponomarev declared himself "people's mayor" of Sloviansk on 14 April, apparently usurping Shetpa. On the following day, she said that the Sloviansk militants were " green men", a reference to the unmarked Russian soldiers that seized
Crimea Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a pop ...
in the lead up to its annexation by Russia in February–March 2014. Two days later, she told journalists that many in her city desired more autonomy for the regional government, but that more than 75 percent of Sloviansk residents wanted to remain part of Ukraine. Nelya Shtepa disappeared on 18 April. At the time, Amnesty International reported that she had attempted to meet with Vyacheslav Ponomarev at the Sloviansk city administration building, and that she had likely been held captive by Ponomarev. In Shtepa's own description of what happened, revealed months later after her eventual release, militants entered her home late at night on 17 April. They forced her into a car, and took her to the city administration building. Ponomarev attempted to force Shtepa to sign a letter of resignation. She refused, and he then beat her into submission. Subsequently, she was forced to voice support for the separatists in a number of interviews with the Russian media, whilst being held captive in the basement of the city administration building. Shtepa was not freed until 5 July 2014, when Ukrainian forces retook Sloviansk. She was then detained by members of the
Security Service of Ukraine The Security Service of Ukraine ( uk, Служба безпеки України, translit=Sluzhba bezpeky Ukrainy}) or SBU ( uk, СБУ, link=no) is the law enforcement authority and main intelligence and security agency of the Ukrainian ...
(SBU) on 11 July for allegedly colluding with the separatists, taken to a prison in
Kharkiv Kharkiv ( uk, wikt:Харків, Ха́рків, ), also known as Kharkov (russian: Харькoв, ), is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Ukraine.Criminal Code of Ukraine The legal system of Ukraine is based on the framework of civil law, and belongs to the Romano-Germanic legal tradition. The main source of legal information is codified law. Customary law and case law are not as common, though case law is of ...
. The Kharkiv regional prosecutors' office announced on 31 October 2014 that it was seeking a sentence of life imprisonment. Amnesty International and the
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, commonly known as the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) or the United Nations Human Rights Office, is a department of the Secretariat of the United Nati ...
(OHCHR) have expressed concerns about the fairness of the judicial proceedings against Shtepa. Journalist and Euromaidan activist Irma Krat, who was also held with Shtepa by Vyacheslav Ponomarev, has refuted the charges against Shtepa, and has volunteered to speak on her behalf. One of the main witnesses for Shtepa's defence, her deputy mayor, was abducted on 30 January 2015, and later found dead. This development was labelled "concerning" by an OHCHR report. She was released from prison on 20 September 2017, and placed under house arrest. A few weeks later, she was said to have "disappeared". As of mid of 2018, she was known to visit her doctor for intravenous therapy due to heart attack.


After Siege of Sloviansk

Shtepa was a candidate on the national list for the
Opposition Platform — For Life The Opposition Platform – For Life ( uk, Опозиційна платформа – За життя; russian: Оппозиционная платформа – За жизнь, OPZZh) was a parliamentary and now banned pro-Russian and Euros ...
party in the
2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election Snap elections to the Ukrainian parliament were held on 21 July 2019. Originally scheduled to be held at the end of October, these elections were brought forward after newly inaugurated President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dissolved parliament on 21 Ma ...
. In this election the party won 37 seats on the nationwide party list (and 6 constituency seats), but Shtepa was not elected. On 24 October 2019, the
European Court of Human Rights The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR or ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights. The court hears applications alleging that ...
ruled that Ukraine should pay Shtepa 3,600 euros in compensation because it violated her right to a trial "within a reasonable time". The court turned down her request of 60,100 euros compensation, finding the claims excessive and unfounded. In January 2020, Shtepa announced that she intended to run for election to become mayor of Sloviansk in the 2020 Ukrainian local elections. She was indeed nominated by the Party for Peace and Development, Shtepa also leads the electoral list of this party for the Sloviansk City Council.https://m.tyzhden.ua/publication/248192


References


External links

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Who is Nelya Shtepa?
' ''Donetskaya Pravda''. 1 March 2013. {{DEFAULTSORT:Shtepa, Nelya 1962 births Living people People from Sloviansk Donbas State Pedagogic University alumni Komsomol 21st-century Ukrainian women politicians Communist Party of the Soviet Union members Party of Regions politicians Opposition Platform — For Life politicians Mayors of places in Ukraine People of the 2014 pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine Recipients of the Honorary Diploma of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine Women mayors of places in Ukraine