The head of Odesa Regional State Administration, Mikheil Saakashvili, has called for Odesa's House of Trade Unions, where a tragedy took place a year ago, to be handed over to the Ukrainian Armed Forces Navy.
“The trade unions building in central Odesa must be handed over to the Ukrainian Navy headquarters,” he wrote on his Facebook page on July 6.
At the same time, the head of the administration noted that the trade unions leader “has been bazaar-bargaining,” asking for significant amounts of state property in return. Currently, the House of Trade Unions, where many people were killed in May 2014, is rented out by trade union leaders “for all kinds of entertainment events,” Saakashvili said.
“We will not allow a potential fifth column to continue filling its pockets, the building must be seized according to the wartime laws and handed over to the armed forces which defend Ukraine,” he said.
Forty-eight people were killed and over 200 injured during mass riots in Odesa on May 2, 2014. Most of the tragedy victims died at the House of Trade Unions. The inquiry found that the Odesa mass riots had been organized and planned deliberately.
A few days later law enforcement officers arrested chief suspects from extremist organizations, as well as several police officers. In addition, Odesa regional police chief Dmytro Fuchedzhi was put on the wanted list. He managed to abscond, having left the country.
On Sept. 25, Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko announced that three people had already been held to account in the case over the May 2 events in Odesa and that Fuchedzhi was still on the run. The head of state asked Russia to assist in bringing Fuchedzhi back to Ukraine so he can face trial.
