UKRAINIAN courts were today condemned for upholding a ban on the only newspaper opposing the country’s “oligarch-nazi regime.”

Founded in 1897, Rabochaya Gazeta was banned earlier this year under Ukraine’s reactionary anti-communist laws after it published articles quoting Karl Marx.

The newspaper actively opposed the glorification of nazi war-criminals by the Ukrainian government. It demanded an end to the civil war launched by Kiev in the Donbass after the 2014 military coup and the seizure of power by the country’s neo-nazis, oligarchs and organised criminals.

The Communist Party of Ukraine (KPU) warned that the political course of the new government had not changed, with a continued hatred of the newspaper for “telling the truth to its readers.”

It said the ban was the precursor for legislation that would “completely destroy freedom of speech and introduce total censorship of the media.” 

The reaction from the Ukrainian public and international community was critical, the party said.

“Therefore we call on all progressive forces, communist and workers parties — using the opportunities of members of national parliaments, the European Left group in PACE and deputies of the European Parliament — using the opportunity and influence of their media, to defend Rabochaya Gazeta,” a KPU statement said.