The four explosions in trash bins that shook Dnipropetrovsk on April 27 injured 31 people, eight of whom remain hospitalized according to the latest reports.
It’s still a mystery who, how and why somebody planted these devices in the center of one of Ukraine’s most populous cities, all timed to go off in broad daylight on a working day.
The bombs shook more than one city and injured more than the victims struck by debris. The incident exposed how mistrustful the public, those in political power and those in political opposition are of each other. It also exposed the incompetence of law enforcement, whose officers only seem to solve crimes by beating confessions out of jailed and possibly innocent suspects.
Even before any evidence was in, Prime Minister Mykola Azarov said the blasts were the work of people trying to destabilize the nation. Others in power hinted darkly that imprisoned ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko is behind the sinister plot. Opposition leader Mykola Tomenko, in turn, speculated about the possible involvement of Ukrainian authorities.
We don’t want to believe that anybody in government would have anything to do with mounting an attack on its own citizens, but stranger things have happened – the deadly apartment bombings in neighboring Russia as Vladimir Putin came to power in 1999 come to mind.
The authorities could help restore a semblance of trust by finding the suspects, and trying them publicly, fairly and swiftly with solid evidence that proves guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
