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Communist Party of Ukraine banned and all its assets seized by the state
(morningstaronline.co.uk)
The KPU is the latest opposition party to be banned by the Ukrainian authorities.
A list of others including the Opposition Platform – For Life party, Left Opposition, Union of Left Forces, Socialist Party of Ukraine and other left-wing organisations have also been prohibited.
No far-right or neonazi organisations have been placed under similar restrictions despite responsibility for a string of atrocities and alleged war crimes in eastern Ukraine.
Authorities have been seeking to close the KPU for more than seven years, using “decommunisation” laws banning communist symbols to block party activities, including barring it from standing in elections, and shut down its newspaper.
In the last general election in which it was allowed to stand, in 2012, the KPU won 2.6 million votes or 13 per cent of the total.
Kiev views the party’s call since 2014 for a peaceful negotiated solution to the civil war in the Donbass that began that year as treasonous.