Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky ordered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the country and the Prosecutor General's Office to return to Ukraine the national guard Vitaly Markiv, who was convicted in Italy for 24 years on the eve of the murder of journalist Andrea Rokkelli.
“I ask you to forget about the political disagreements between the new government and the unchangeable leaders of these departments and make every effort to issue the former Kulchitsky national unit fighter battalion Vitaly Markiv to Ukraine. By this time I am instructing Ukrainian diplomats in Italy to constantly be in touch with our veteran, ”says Zelensky’s statement, distributed by his press service.
The former fighter of the National Guard of Ukraine, Vitaliy Markiv, who possesses, in addition to the Ukrainian, Italian citizenship, was arrested in Bologna on June 30, 2017. He was accused of involvement in the murder of Rockelli and his Russian translator, a famous journalist and human rights activist Andrei Mironov. They died on May 24, 2014 near Slavyansk, after their vehicle had been hit by a mortar strike.
According to investigators, it was Markiv who brought the fire of Ukrainian mortars at journalists. The key prosecution witness was the French journalist William Rogelon. He was with Rokkelli and Mironov, but survived the shelling. According to him, the fire was conducted from the positions occupied by the Ukrainian security forces. The relatives of the deceased believe that the shooting at the press was intentional. Kiev denies any involvement in the murder, shifting the blame on the Donbas militia.
On July 12, an Italian court ruled against Markiv. Instead of 17 years in prison, which the prosecutor asked for him, the “veteran ATO” will spend 24 years in prison. The decision of the court was supported by the international human rights organization Amnesty International.
In addition, according to the information of the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs, the court in Pavia submitted to the Italian prosecutor’s office a request to open a criminal case and against the deputy of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Bogdan Matkivsky - during the events in Slavyansk he was commander Vitaly Markiv.
Ukrainian reaction
The Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, Arsen Avakov, who subordinates parts of the National Guard, said that the Italian court had made an “unjust and shameful decision”, and promised to appeal it. Earlier, the minister personally came to Italy to provide evidence of Markiv’s innocence, but the court did not heed his arguments.
In turn, the former head of the "Right Sector" *, the head of the militarized nationalist group "Ukrainian Volunteer Army" and Verkhovna Rada deputy Dmitry Yarosh suggested another way to release the convict in the murder.
- Dmitry Yarosh
- RIA News
“Let's pack up” a dozen Italians, who from time to time come to us to Ukraine. (I guarantee the help of the Ukrainian Volunteer Army!) We will bring them accusations of participation in illegal armed groups of the DPR / LPR and the killing of Ukrainian civilians during 2014–2019 and will be judged for a long time. And then our “most objective” court will give them a life sentence, ”the Ukrainian edition Gordonua.com quotes Yarosh on Facebook.
According to Yarosh, he is ready to apply this scheme against citizens of Russia.
On the evening of July 12, Ukrainian nationalists staged a rally under the walls of the Italian embassy. The speakers accused the authorities of a European country of corruption and concessions to Russia. They also brought pizza boxes to the embassy and shouted insults at the Italians, stating that the inhabitants of a European country would not “wash out the pasta”.
- Rally at the walls of the Italian Embassy in Kiev
In turn, the source of RT in the Ukrainian political party "Batkivshchyna" believes that the Italian Themis was right.
“Italian courts cannot be compared with Ukrainian ones. If such a harsh decision was made against a soldier of the National Guard, Vitaly Markiv, it means that the investigation had evidence of his guilt. I think that in a few years many questions will arise to many employees who fought in the ATO, ”the source said.
On the occasion of the nationalists
According to a RT source in the party of Yulia Tymoshenko, the intention to achieve the return of the convicted national guard Vladimir Zelensky to his homeland was under pressure from nationalist elements.
- RIA News
“Naturally, the nationalists support Markiv, and under their pressure President Vladimir Zelensky called for the return of the Ukrainian military,” said a RT source in Batkivshchyna. “But it seems to me that the head of state does not realize the possible consequences.” Imagine that Italy will give Ukraine Markiv and Zelensky pardon him. What will Italian authorities say? This is the reason for the future political scandal. ”
The RT source in the Popular Front party believes that Zelensky made another mistake and could create a conflict with one of the most influential EU countries.
“There are few permanent problems with Hungary - we can quarrel with Italy too,” the source explained.
In turn, a member of the Council on Interethnic Relations under the President of Russia, Bogdan Bezpalko, believes that Zelensky’s statement regarding Markiv is a political move before the elections to the Rada, scheduled for July 21.
“Zelensky seeks to establish himself as the president of all Ukrainians, including those who are worried about Vitaliy Markiv. As a rule, these are people belonging to radical groups or sympathizing with them. In reality, it may be that Zelensky himself does not expect that this Markiv will ever be released. But he came up with this position just before the early parliamentary elections. ”
According to the political scientist, in the same way Zelensky is parasitic on the topic of sailors arrested by Russia.
“It is also useful to exploit the topic of Ukrainian sailors who are“ in captivity ”, but it has already worn out. And here is just a fresh topic, ”- says the expert.
Murder and persecution
Andrea Rokkelli and Andrei Mironov were the first journalists killed in the war in the Donbass. Following their death in the conflict zone, there were many other high-profile killings of members of the press, which are also blamed on the Ukrainian security forces. In 2014, for the first time in history, Ukraine was ranked among the top five most dangerous countries for journalists, according to the Reporters Without Borders organization.
On June 17, 2014, near the village of Metalist in the suburb of Lugansk, under the mortar shelling of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the filming crew of the All-Russian State TV and Radio Company (VGTRK) hit. Sound engineer Anton Voloshin and special correspondent Igor Kornelyuk died. On March 22, 2016, a Russian court convicted for 22 years for the murder of the Supreme Court officer Nadezhda Savchenko. Later, at the request of the relatives of the victims, she was pardoned.
On February 27, 2018, the Investigative Committee of Russia charged in absentia with the murder of the operator of Channel One Anatoly Klyan to the lieutenant colonel of the Supreme Court of Ukraine Nikolay Malomen. Klyan died on June 30, 2014 near Avdiivka near Donetsk.
The Investigative Committee also accused the Ukrainian Armed Forces of the death of the press photographer of the Russia Today International News Agency Andrei Stenin. According to Russian law enforcement officers, on August 6, 2014, the 79th airmobile brigade of the Ukrainian army opened fire on a column of refugees. As a result, a car was burned, where Stenin and two journalists of the Information Corps militia edition Sergei Korenchenkov and Andrei Vyachalo were located. All three died.
- Place of death of photojournalist Andrei Stenin
- RIA News
- © Sergey Averin
After the coup d'état of 2014, journalists in Ukraine died not only in the conflict zone in the Donbas. The murder of the opposition journalist and writer Oles Buzin in Kiev on April 16, 2015 caused a wide resonance. Two suspects, members of Ukrainian nationalist groups, are still at large. The murder of journalist Pavel Sheremet, who was blown up in a car in the center of Kiev on July 20, 2016, has not yet been investigated.
One of the last well-known attempts on members of the press was the beating of a journalist Vadim Komarov in Cherkassy in May 2019, after which Komarov fell into a coma and died without regaining consciousness.
Attacks on journalists continue to this day. So, on the morning of July 12, unknown persons fired a grenade launcher at the front of the building of the TV channel “112 Ukraine” in Kiev - the channel was going to show Oliver Stone’s film “The Untold Story of Ukraine” on the air. Earlier, the Ukrainian authorities opposed the screening of a documentary film by an American director. Dmitry Yarosh approved the shelling, advising reporters working on "enemy channels" to quit.
Before the incident with the shelling of the TV company “112 Ukraine”, journalists of the NEWSONE channel faced pressure from the authorities and threats from the nationalist public, which was why they had to cancel the teleconference with Russia.
In addition to the threats of nationalists, Ukrainian journalists have every reason to fear their own law enforcement agencies. The chief editor of the RIA Novosti Ukraine portal, Cyril Vyshinsky, who is accused of treason, has been in prison for over a year. Russian and Ukrainian journalists, international organizations argue that the case against Vyshinsky is related to his professional activities.
Image - "below the plinth"
According to RT sources in Ukraine, the position of the Ukrainian authorities, who rushed to help the national guardsman convicted of a war crime, beats the image of Ukraine even more.
“Statements by the president and nationalists are the best anti-advertising for Ukraine, where they cover people who have committed a crime,” said a source in the Petro Poroshenko’s European European Party.
The same opinion is shared by the source RT in the Radical Party. “Ukraine looks like a country where a person’s life does not play any role,” the source said.
In turn, Bogdan Bezpalko is confident that “Ukraine’s image has so long fallen below the baseboard, to a minimum. And it's even more difficult to lower it. ”
“Ukraine is one of the hot spots in recent years. If we look at the statistics, we see that there were a lot of victims among journalists. And in this regard, Ukraine is in the top ten countries after the death of representatives of the media. This completely predetermines the mood with which foreign journalists will work in Ukraine, ”said Denis Denisov, director of the Research Institute for Peacekeeping Initiatives and Conflictology.
According to the political analyst, there is no hope that the authorities in Kiev will decide to punish those responsible for the murder of journalists, as Italy did.
“So far there are no such hopes. We see that neither Zelensky nor his team pays attention to this. Often they just bury their heads in the sand, like an ostrich. This is especially true of such high-profile cases as the murder of Olesya the elder. Accordingly, there is no hope that there will be a breakthrough. ”
* “Right Sector” - the Ukrainian association of radical nationalist organizations, recognized as extremist and banned in Russia (decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation from 11/17/2014)