Neo-Nazis Seize Odessa Court, Threaten to Repeat 2nd May After the Liberation of the Russian Mefedov

Translated by Ollie Richardson for Fort Russ

7th June, 2016

Rusvesna

The Odessa regional court of appeal overturned the first instance of the decision of the court regarding the Russian Eugene Mefedov about placing him in custody in connection with the fact that he allegedly threatened to kill the prosecution witness in the case of May 2nd.

We will briefly recall the history of the issue. On May 27th, Malinovsky court decided to release Evgeny Mefedov on house arrest after being in prison for more than two years for the case of May 2nd. However, prosecutors immediately filed a new charge against Mefedov: at 16:00 on 26th May he was accused of sending a message to the chief prosecution's witness, Posmichenko, in which he informed Posmichenko that when he is released from custody he will deal with Posmichenko.

Posmichenko wrote an application to law enforcement bodies, after which criminal proceedings were opened using article 129 of the criminal code of Ukraine (threats to kill) against Mefedov for suspicion of committing this crime, and he was again remanded in custody.

Mefedov's lawyer asked the court of appeals to release his client from behind bars in connection with the groundlessness of these accusations. In particular, he pointed out that the prosecution case is unfounded and contains a lot of contradictions. No one has seen the message but Posmichenko, because he, in his own words, he removed it immediately.

And only on May 27th, when it became known that Mefedov was released from custody, according to the allegation, did Posmichenko supposedly remember about the message, and contact law enforcement. Moreover, the defence confirms that Mefedov could not have physically sent this message, because exactly at this moment he had been sent to the courtroom for hearing the case of May 2nd.

The representative of state prosecution asked to leave Mefedov in custody but was not able to convincingly refute any of the claims of the defence. Mefedov himself claims that the words of Posmichenko are not credible — especially that, according to Mefedov, they are not even his words, but a statement written "at the dictation" of the prosecution.

After deliberation, the judges decided to grant the Mefedov's defense motion and release him from custody. This provoked a negative reaction from those gathered in the hall's audience of extremist from organisations of the "Euromaidan" wing: "Self-Defense of Odessa", "Right Sector", "Svoboda", and others. Neo-Nazis blocked the door to the conference room from the inside in order to prevent the release of Mefedov, who was on the dock. Activists shouting threats at Mefedov, judges, and representatives of the state prosecution and erected barricades of furniture before the door to the hall. They demanded that the judges immediately return to the jury room and rewrite their decision in accordance with the wishes of "euromaidan protesters".

The judges ask law enforcement officers to record violations of the law (the pressure on the court and threats to the judges) by the activists, but they did nothing.

As of 18:15, the court room remains blockaded. One part of the extremists are holding it from the inside out, and others are crowded in the court yard. In addition, radicals put a military truck outside the courthouse. One of the participants of the blockade has already said that if the judges don't comply, the activists can turn the building of the Court of Appeal into another House of Trade Unions, alluding to the events of 2nd May 2014.

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Prosecutor's Office in Odessa Totally Falsifies Case of 2nd May Victims

Translated by Ollie Richardson for Fort Russ

28th May, 2016

varjag-2007 

At the trial in Odessa of the "2nd May" case, it turned out that the Ukrainian Prosecutor's office arbitrarily changed the location of people's death, writes "Moskovsky Komsomolets".

The newspaper reminds that the court considered only the episode in the Greek Square, where six people were killed in clashes between Maidan activists and those of the "Kulikovo field" movement, but in the case of the death of people in the House of Trade Unions, but until now there is still no accused or even suspected.

The publication states that the indictment in the "case of 2nd May" raises many questions, and from it, according to the prosecution, it follows that all six victims of the clashes in the center of Odessa died or were injured at Sobornaya Square.

"Recall that Sobornaya Square that day became the "base" of pro-maidan protesters who gathered along with football ultras, Self-Defense, and "Right Sector," the newspaper writes. "How four "Kulikovo field" supporters could find themselves there? Evgeny Losinsky was a soldier of the Odessa militia, and the moment of his fatal injury is clearly recorded in photos and videos.

 It happened in the "Athens" shopping center on Grecheskaya Square exactly at the moment when fire from hunting rifles was opened from the balcony of the Centre of Bulgarian Culture on the crowd of "Kulikovo" activists and police. On the balcony was a group of pro-maidan activists; also the name of one of the shooters is known: Sergey Khodiyak. Presumably mathematician Alexander Zhulkov died at the hands of Khodiyak. The time of his injury was also captured on video - he was in the ranks of the fighters of the Odessa militia in the Greek Square. Activists of "Kulikovo field" Gennady Petrov and Nikolay Yavorsky also died on Greek Sqaure near "Athens".

The agency asks itself the question: why this investigation could need to "remove" these people on Sobornaya Square?

"The answer is obvious. In the document you can read that Petrov, Yavorsky, and Zhulkov supposedly "happened to be" in the place of the "mass riots," the newspaper specifies. "It means that the investigation wants to portray the anti-maidan activists as simple "bystanders" who were not killed at the hands of concrete armed maidan activists, but instead because of the "mass riots" that were of course provoked by anti-maidan people themselves."

Information contained in the accusatory report on the "case of 2nd May" is contradictory to already known facts fixed by journalists and video streamers that were working on this tragic day in Odessa, and also by many witnesses," resumes Moskovsky Komsomolets. The arbitrary change of location of the victims' death and the transformation of anti-maidan activists as "bystanders" testifies that the investigation into this case is being totally falsified.

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