Ukrainian court cancels Hero title for Bandera

Ukrainian court cancels Hero title for Bandera

KIEV, January 12 (Itar-Tass) - The decree of ex-President Viktor Yushchenko, which conferred the title of Hero of Ukraine on Stepan Bandera, has been recognized as invalid by a court ruling, the press service of the Ukrainian President reported on Wednesday. “Decree No.46/2010, issued by Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenkio on January 20, 2010, which conferred the title of Hero of Ukraine on Stepan Bandera, has been recognized as invalid by a court ruling,” the report said. In April 2010 the Donetsk Regional Administrative Court recognized as illegal Yushchenko’s decree, which conferred the title of Hero on Bandera. Stepan Bandera led the “organisation of Ukrainian nationalists” (OUN) from 1941 to 1959. OUN-UPA members, who began to be called Bandera men after their leader, have numerous crimes on their record. They murdered some 100,000 Poles, Czechs and Jews in the Western Volyn region. Thousands of Ukrainians, who refused to cooperate with OUN, were also brutally murdered. Bandera is regarded as a criminal and a terrorist in Poland for those crimes and for terrorist activities before World War II.