Anti-corruption activist Oleg Mykhailyk says Ukraine’s law enforcement are trying to sabotage the search for those who tried to kill him by failing to send documents allowing German police to examine a bullet.
The bullet in question has remained lodged in Mykhailyk’s lung since the attack, and could be key evidence in his case, the activist wrote on his Facebook on Jan. 9.
Mykhailyk, known for organizing protests against illegal construction in Odesa, was shot near his house in Odesa on Sept. 22 and was for a time clinically dead, until doctors resuscitated him in hospital.
Police on Sept. 25 arrested three petty criminals as suspects, but Mykhailyk and his friends doubt they were the real attackers and accuse Odesa’s local authorities of either ordering the attack, or knowing who did it.
A key piece of evidence is the case – the bullet that still remains in Mykhailyk’s lung – could help to identify the gun used for the attack.
Fearing that the real bullet could be switched for another one, Mykhailyk traveled to Germany for the operation, which was sponsored by the German government.
But Ukrainian law enforcement failed to send the paperwork needed to grant German law enforcement the right to examine the bullet. If they don’t do so, the bullet can’t be used as evidence in a Ukrainian court.
Mykhailyk’s operation had been planned for the morning of Jan. 9, but it has now been postponed for several days, and the activist fears the German doctors will eventually have to remove the bullet without having received all of the necessary papers from Ukraine.
“Ukraine’s law enforcement system has not only once again proved its bankruptcy, but also disgraced itself before our foreign partners,” Mykhailyk wrote on Facebook.
Mykhailyk claimed his lawyers had sent the police a request to prepare the papers, and that he had personally told Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko about the plans for his operations two months ago.
“The system gives me no choice but to undergo surgery, knowing that the removed bullet would no longer be an important piece of evidence,” Mykhailyk added.
