ODESA – Odesa-based Malynovsky district court has extended pre-charge detention of five defendants in the May 2 events in Odesa, 2014, in particular clashes and a fire on the Hretska Square, for 60 days.
An Interfax-Ukraine correspondent has reported that under a court ruling Evgeniy Mefedov and Maxim Sakaulov, Serhiy Dolzhenkov, Vladyslav Romaniuk and Serhiy Korchynsky are left detained until February 14, 2017.
As reported, early December the judicial panel of Odesa-based Malynovsky district court was reshuffled as one judge became ill.
The court then ruled to restart the consideration of the case from the beginning at, having satisfied a claim filed by one of the defendants in connection with the replacement of the judge.
On May 2, 2014, 48 people died and 200 were injured due to the mass riots and fire in Odesa. Most victims of the tragedy died at the Trade Unions House. The investigation revealed that the riots in Odesa were organized and deliberately planned.
Various law enforcement agencies of Ukraine started about a dozen criminal proceedings into different facts. In particular, the Main Department of Internal Affairs of Ukraine in Odesa region launched a series of criminal proceedings into the facts of injury and death of people in clashes of pro-Russian and pro-Ukrainian activists. Later, the Central Investigation Department of Ukrainian Interior Ministry in Odesa region took over these criminal proceedings. Some of these cases have already been transferred to court. The most high-profile of them is the case on the events on the Hretska Square, where the first clashes between pro-Russian and pro-Ukrainian activists occurred. There are more than 20 suspects in this case, including two Russian citizens. They are all representatives of the so-called Antimaidan movement.
In addition, the Prosecutor’s Office of Odesa region and the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office are investigating the activities of officials of the Main Department of the Interior Ministry of Ukraine in Odesa region and the Main Department of the Ukrainian Emergency Situations Service in Odesa region during the events of May 2.
The pretrial investigation into at least one criminal proceeding on the events of May 2 is being conducted by Ukraine’s Security Service in Odesa region.
