VP/HR — Murders and suspicious deaths in Ukraine
5.5.2015
Question for written answer P-007210-15
to the Commission (Vice-President/High Representative)
Rule 130
Yana Toom (ALDE) , Andrejs Mamikins (S&D) , Petras Auštrevičius (ALDE) , Fernando Maura Barandiarán (ALDE) , Ivo Vajgl (ALDE) , Ilhan Kyuchyuk (ALDE)
Several recent murders in Ukraine have attracted considerable public attention, among them the killings of opposition journalist Oles Buzyna (16 April 2015) and prominent opposition politician Oleg Kalashnikov (15 April 2015). Both were public opinion leaders known for their criticism of the Ukrainian authorities and both were killed near their homes.
Furthermore, in a press release of 17 April 2015[1] Amnesty International provides the following list of deaths under suspicious circumstances (‘suicides’) of people who were close to ex-President Yanukovich and/or his political party (late January to mid-April 2015):
- —Oleksandr Peklushenko, a former regional governor (found shot);
- —Stanislav Melnyk, ex-MP (found shot);
- —Mykhaylo Chechetov, former deputy chairman of the Party of Regions (allegedly jumped from a window in his flat);
- —Serhiy Valter, mayor of the south-eastern city of Melitopol (found hanged);
- —Oleksiy Kolesnyk, ex-head of Kharkiv’s regional government (found hanged);
- —Oleksandr Bordyuh, a former police deputy chief in Melitopol (found dead at home).
There were no credible investigations into these deaths.
Has your office delivered any formal opinion/recommendation regarding these deaths in Ukraine? Has your office discussed them with the Ukrainian Government?
Have the European institutions offered their help to the Ukrainian authorities with a view to credible investigations being conducted into the abovementioned deaths?
- [1] Source: https://www.amnesty.org/en/articles/news/2015/04/ukraine-suspicious-deaths-need-credible-investigations