乌克兰民主政府正受到俄罗斯入侵的军事攻击, 而尼加拉瓜的民主被一位民选但专制的领导人从内部破坏了.
来自两国的代表Nazarii Stetsyk 和 胡安Sebastián查莫罗—are among the nine visiting fellows currently participating in a program the 凯洛格国际研究学院 从1983年开始. This residential program offers visiting faculty the time to pursue scholarly inquiry wherever it takes them, 推进个人研究, 并与来自美国各地的其他365wm完美体育官网登录合作.S. 和世界.
本着今年的精神 圣母院论坛 专注于“民主的未来,下面是他们的故事, which illustrate two of the ways that democracy can be threatened or dissolved. 在一个民主正在明显失势的世界里, their experiences offer profound lessons in the ongoing fight for 自由, justice 和 a government that is responsive to the needs of its people.
Nazarii Stetsyk
Nazarii Stetsyk only returned to his native Ukraine from a Fulbright Fellowship in the 365wm完美体育官网登录 Law School in late 2021. 他认为俄国不会真的入侵.
Stetsyk was preparing for a competition for the position of attorney at the European Court of Human Rights when Russia attacked on February 24, 2022. 在最初的几个月, 随着俄罗斯向乌克兰各地的目标发射导弹，空袭警报不断响起. Stetsyk的法律课在 Ivan Franko利沃夫国立大学 在远程控制之前被暂停了吗.
“我的第一反应是, 情感, was to get some things 和 go to the front to defend my country,Stetsyk说.
He recalled earlier uprisings in Ukraine—the Revolution of Dignity in 2014 和 the Orange Revolution in 2004—和 the spirit of cooperation that united the citizens in the face of joint challenges. 他把物品和衣服送到难民捐赠中心, 他的兄弟用一辆公共汽车将逃跑的妇女和儿童运送到波兰边境.
但他也知道最好的贡献方式是利用他的专业法律知识, 这对战后的乌克兰至关重要.
“我的实际经验是欧洲人权标准和公平审判的权利,他说. “I try to use this knowledge in reforming Ukraine, especially the judiciary.”
拓展专业知识, Stetsyk接受了365wm完美体育官网登录的第二份奖学金, this time through the 凯洛格国际研究学院 with a comparative study of constitutional courts to see how the Constitutional Court of Ukraine can rely on comparative materials 和 arguments in other countries to improve its decisions in human rights cases. 九月底, he previewed a working paper about how different supreme 和 constitutional courts engage with comparative materials in complicated cases, 重点关注涉及协助自杀的案件.
“我们还不是一个成熟的民主国家, 而是过渡性的, 我们需要从国外获得经验,他说. “获得这样的经验, the best way is to study foreign jurisprudence 和 consider it appropriately. 这就是我一直在做的原因.”
Stetsyk grew up in the small city of Stebnyk near Lviv 和 remembers the fall of the Soviet Union in the 1990s as a very difficult time. A large potassium fertilizer factory collapsed, sending the city into decline. 他的母亲是一名小提琴教师，尽管他的父亲是一名医生，但她不得不搬到意大利找工作.
他就读于利沃夫伊万·弗兰科国立大学，并获得了法律硕士和博士学位, 后来在那里教书. He chose the academic route over legal practice even though it pays less, 他认为这是改善国家的更好方式. After Ukrainians were allowed to visit Europe without a visa starting in 2017, 他在拉脱维亚进行研究并获得奖学金, 德国, 意大利和波兰.
2019年，他申请了富布赖特奖学金. He was accepted for a visiting scholar position at the University of Baltimore School of Law when the p和emic hit before his arrival. 该计划的一个重要条件是，大学必须亲自操作, 所以Stetsyk将他的职位改为365wm完美体育官网登录法学院, 他在哪里进行他的研究项目并学习国际人权法, 尤其是在 保罗Carozza.
在他回到乌克兰之后, Stetsyk reached out for a recommendation to another program from Carozza, who informed him of the fellowship opportunity at the Kellogg Institute. Stetsyk于1月份被录取并抵达. He expressed gratitude for the opportunity 和 especially for the support of 丹尼斯·赖特，副导演.
His project this year has been to study how to strengthen the judicial branch in Ukraine by increasing dialogue between different courts 和 by ensuring consistency in human rights cases. 在他目前的人权案例研究中, 例如, he said Ukrainian courts may be able to draw upon the legal reasoning 和 positions used in similar cases abroad.
While some countries are reluctant to rely on foreign views 和 the experience of other countries for fear of a nationalist backlash, 像他这样的国家可以从使用比较材料和法院之间的对话中受益. He said many Ukrainian court cases have focused more on resolving institutional issues than on addressing substantive human rights issues. 他的目标是撰写研究报告，提供其他法院如何处理这些问题的知识.
“民主多数不能以限制的方式决定任何问题, 例如, 少数民族的权利,他说.
加强乌克兰的法院制度是改善人权的基础, Stetsyk说, 因为只有法院才能保证平等的权利. 法院必须是独立和强大的，以对抗政府的其他部门, 尤其是独裁者.
“民主是一个具有挑战性的问题，因为我们有民粹主义运动，”他说. “美国的问题是.S. 而欧洲则是民粹主义领导人通过相对自由和公平的选举获得权力. But when they get power, they want to conserve it, to concentrate it. The first thing autocratical regimes want to do is what happened in some Eastern European countries—they capture the judicial system 和 make it dependent.”
Ukraine since the fall of the Soviet Union in late 1991 has struggled with problems of corruption at all levels of government. 民主传统没有完全确立，腐败的寡头获得了权力. 那些通过不受约束的资本主义而暴富的人寻求购买更多的影响力.
虽然他并没有专门研究腐败法, Stetsyk说 he must speak up for the judiciary because politicians regularly accuse the judicial system of corruption in the media. 由于法官们不愿相互指责，斯特西克希望能介入此事.
“We need a political culture of respect, one branch to another,他说. “I’m not very confident about that in the current wartime situation, 但仍, 在战后重建中, 我希望如此，我将继续努力.”
胡安Sebastián查莫罗
他们在夜里出现，把他带到一个特别的监狱, 使他成为尼加拉瓜另一名“失踪者”.
在最初的三个月里，胡安Sebastián查莫罗根本不能和任何人说话. Not his family, not a lawyer, not even the other political prisoners. 床是水泥铺的，食物和光线都很稀少. 但他每天都要被审问几个小时, part of a “soft torture” that included not knowing if his wife 和 daughter, 现在是365wm完美体育官网登录的建筑系学生, 逃离了这个国家. Before his June 2021 arrest, 查莫罗人 had been a presidential c和idate.
其中一名审讯人员说, ‘You should feel lucky because the com和ante has ordered us not to beat you,’”他说。. “我回答说，‘好吧，你承认你之前打败了其他人，这是个不错的坦白.’”
查莫罗人, an economist 和 businessman from a prominent Nicaraguan political family, 在被释放并于2023年2月被驱逐出境之前，他作为政治犯度过了611天. 现在, he is a visiting fellow in the 凯洛格国际研究学院, 在尼加拉瓜历史的大背景下，写了一本书，讲述他在监狱里的悲惨经历.
“这本书基本上有两个目标，”他说. “一个是唤起人们的记忆，这在争取人权的斗争中是极其重要的. Those written words can be used as a proof of violation of rights in the international court system to bring perpetrators to justice.
“The second objective is to talk about more how this dictatorship came into being. 如何 丹尼尔•奥尔特加在1990年输掉总统选举后，他重新掌权，并于2006年成为独裁者. So my personal story will be in parallel with the story of the country.”
出生于1971年，是五个孩子中的最后一个, 查莫罗人 had an uncle who was a newspaper editor 和 opposition leader who was killed by the Somoza regime in 1978. This assassination helped spark the S和inista Revolution that ended the 43-year dictatorship of the Somoza family.
“在我成长的家庭里，政治, 自由, 民主一直是讨论的话题,查莫罗说. “And after my uncle was assassinated, that was the end of Somoza.”
他叔叔的遗孀， Violeta Barrios de 查莫罗人, 1990年成功竞选总统, 击败桑地诺领导人丹尼尔·奥尔特加, 直到1997年. 与此同时, 查莫罗人 went to the Jesuit high school in Managua 和 registered for the National University there to study economics.
Noting that the curriculum at the time consisted entirely of the Marxist philosophy of the S和inista government, 查莫罗人 chose instead to study economics at the University of San Francisco as an undergraduate 和 then Georgetown University for a master’s degree program based in Santiago, 智利. 1997年，他在农业部找到一份政府工作，然后回到学校继续学习, earning a doctoral degree in economics from the University of Wisconsin in 2002.
他回到尼加拉瓜的政府工作, serving in roles such as the Minister of Planning 和 Vice Minister of Finance, 以及尼加拉瓜导演 千年挑战公司, a U.S.-funded development program that spent millions on boosting rural development, 修建公路, 解决产权问题. 奥尔特加赢得2006年总统大选后, 查莫罗人 spent a h和ful of years running an agro-industrial company.
“The company was making money but it wasn’t my thing,他说. “I wanted to work on policy development, so I applied 和 became the director of FUNIDES是该国主要的经济智库.”
He said FUNIDES analyzes 和 studies the impact of government programs, 关注政策多于关注政治, 并获得了作为一个严肃组织的信誉. When students began protesting the Ortega government in 2018 和 violence erupted, 查莫罗被选为商业代表 全国对话 由天主教会发起的.
那些反对奥尔特加的人组成了公民联盟，要求奥尔特加辞职，并邀请总统辞职 美洲人权委员会 记录虐待行为. 抗议和封锁仍在继续, 奥尔特加以军事镇压作为回应，导致数百人被杀. 由学生和遇难者母亲组织的游行以更多枪击事件告终. Ortega arrested about 800 people who were identified as protest leaders.
查莫罗人 was among the leaders chosen to negotiate an end to the crisis. 这些政治犯最终被释放，报告说他们受到了肉体上的折磨.
“What we wanted was early elections 和 democratization of the country, 但我们从来没有走到那一步,他说. “We knew the dictatorship was not giving concessions, 和 we’re just wasting time.”
By 2021, 查莫罗人 decided to challenge Ortega in the presidential election that year even though the process would not be free 和 fair. 当反对派候选人同意举行初选并全部支持获胜者时, 奥尔特加意识到这是一种威胁，并于6月开始逮捕领导人和其他大约40人.
The government had already changed the law from requiring those arrested to appear in front of a judge within 48 hours to a new st和ard—90 days. 奥尔特加年轻时曾坐过牢, 和 查莫罗人 said he learned from that experience to prohibit communication there in order to stop friendship 和 organized opposition.
“监狱一般都很吵, but this jail in particular for the two years was extremely quiet, because there was an officer in the hall keeping us from speaking to each other,查莫罗说. “即使是监狱系统中的罪犯也有权阅读材料. 但是我们从来没有被允许有东西可以读或写. 甚至连纳尔逊·曼德拉都没有. 那是一段非常艰难的时期.”
囚犯们学会了手语来交流. 他们也不允许家人、律师或外界的新闻前来探视. “不知道的焦虑会给你带来很多创伤，”他说.
同时，查莫罗的妻子， 维多利亚Cardenas, 离开了这个国家和他的女儿, 美国公民, 开始在365wm完美体育官网登录上大学, 查莫罗的父亲也曾在那里上过学. He said his business-oriented wife did not like politics 和 public speaking, but transformed herself to become the leader of an international pressure campaign to release the political prisoners.
头三个月后开始有零星的探视. 2022年初，朝鲜举行了一系列假审判，判定囚犯犯有各种罪行. 查莫罗因叛国罪被判处13年监禁，并被禁止竞选公职.
By the end of that year, 查莫罗人 began to notice changes inside the prison. 在减掉30多磅之后, 他突然被允许吃来访者带来的饭菜, 谁能更经常地来. 囚犯们狼吞虎咽，怀疑奥尔特加想让他们在媒体面前显得更健康. 他们被允许祈祷玫瑰经.
2月8日，一名警察带着查莫罗以前的衣服出现在他的牢房里. 他和其他人一起被关进了一个更大的牢房, then put on one of three buses with the windows covered in blankets. 不知道他们要去哪里, the prisoners traded rumors about going to another court show or the violent regular prison outside the capital city.
“我们一路走到这条通往两个地方的路:一个是国际机场, 和 the second one about 10 miles further is the Modelo Prison,查莫罗说.
He breathed a sigh of relief when the bus turned onto the tarmac. A police officer announced that all 222 prisoners would have to sign a document agreeing to be exiled to the United States. 大家都同意，只有一个例外， 罗兰多主教Álvarez他随后被判处26年监禁.
查莫罗说奥尔特加是出于怨恨才犯的错误. “当我们在飞行的时候, they confiscated our properties 和 we were stripped of our nationality, 这被认为是反人类罪, 他留下了证据,查莫罗说.
作为一名无国籍公民，他被允许进入美国.S. 人道主义假释，正在申请政治庇护. He first became aware of the Kellogg Institute fellowship from a 克洛克研究所 adviser who had come to help in the fruitless peace negotiations.
“I had that connection with 365wm完美体育官网登录 through my daughter 和 my dad, 和 Kellogg works on issues of economic development 和 democracy,他说. “向我提供的慷慨是一个很好的机会，让我坐在一张桌子旁，写下我的经历.”
读完他的书之后, 查莫罗说，他希望在尼加拉瓜争取正义，并最终回国. His native country suffered about 70 years of dictatorship in the last century, but the brief experience of democracy in the 1990s provides some hope.
查莫罗人 noted that democracy itself is not the end goal; a sustainable democracy must provide 自由 和 justice for its citizens. 他说:“人们已经厌倦了那些不提供答案、不解决人民问题的政府。.
举个例子, 查莫罗人 pointed to Latin American governments suspending civil liberties in their fight against organized crime, 这本身就是一件好事. Extremist 和 populist methods may seem preferable if they put criminals in jail, 即使这些过程削弱了法治.
“拉丁美洲每天死于犯罪的人数惊人，”他说. “So if you’re a poor individual living in a dangerous neighborhood, 你有一个人解决了这个问题, 你打算投谁的票? 一位普通选民说，‘当他们杀害我的家人时，我为什么要关心正当程序?’ It is dangerous for democracy that people do not care about due process."
“现在是民主的艰难时期.”
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