Two Ukrainian nationalists have received suspended prison terms for involvement in violent attempts in Lviv on May 9 to break up events marking an anniversary of the Soviet victory over Nazi forces in World War II.
Brothers Mykhailo and Volodymyr Kovaliv, who are members of the Sambir district council of the Lviv region and belong to the Svoboda (Freedom) nationalist group, were given suspended terms of 15 months and one year respectively with one-year probation periods for both, Svoboda said in a statement.
The brothers’ lawyer Ruslan Valko claimed the two nationalists were innocent and said he would appeal the sentences.
On May 9, a group of young men tried to derail Victory Day events in Lviv. A group of Russian diplomats were one of the targets of their attacks.
They assaulted Russian Consul Oleg Astakhov and his colleagues who were on their way to the Hill of Glory, wrenched from them a wreath the diplomat had planned to lay at a military cemetery and crushed it under their feet.
Fourteen people were injured in that day’s clashes.
Mykhailo and Volodymyr Kovaliv were detained on May 15 and told they would be questioned as witnesses. However, on May 18, a Lviv court ordered them to be put under arrest.
