Volodymyr Chemerys
Volodymyr Chemerys (Ukrainian: Володимир Чемерис) is a Ukrainian politician and social activist. Chemerys was a member of the Verkhovna Rada (parliament) of the second convocation (1994-1998), but he is mostly known as one of the informal leaders of the Ukraine without Kuchma mass protest campaign of 2000-2001.
Early political career
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Chemerys was elected to the Verkhovna Rada from a Frankivsky constituency in the city of Lviv, after nominated and supported by the right-centrist Ukrainian Republican Party. Chemerys says he was mostly relying on people-to-people communications and small group of dedicated campaign volunteers so that the whole campaigning cost him and the party as low as U.S. $600.
Later, Volodymyr Chemerys was also elected as the regional party leader in the city of Kiev.
UBK and other anti-Kuchma campaigns
In 2000, Volodymyr Chemerys became one of informal leaders of the "Ukraine without Kuchma" campaign. He has been an active public speaker and negotiator, one of the representatives of the campaign received by their political enemy President Kuchma.
Chemerys has also been active participant of subsequent protest campaigns started by the opposition against Leonid Kuchma.
Chemerys in the Orange Revolution
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Unlike predominant majority of his UBK co-participants, Volodymyr Chemerys was sceptical to Viktor Yuschenko during the 2004 presidential_election and even particiapted in the marginal "Ashamed to vote!" campaign (meaning "for any of the candidates").
Recent developments
Despite his political start in a rightist party, Volodymyr Chemerys is now declaring leftist views. He is currently heading the "Respublica" Institute - a left-liberal non-governmental organization. Its most known project is advocacy of the freedom of assembly and oversight of police attitude towards participants of political rallies and public protests. The Institute is rumoured to be financed by George Soros.
Chemerys is leading the continuous public campaign aimed to remembrance of Taras Protsiuk, Ukrainian TV-cameraman killed during Iraq war by U.S. tank fire, and proper investigation of the death. As part of the campaign, the activists conduct occasional protest vigils of the United States embassy in Kiev with a slogan "Bush, we remember that!".