The Prosecutor’s Office of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea opened criminal proceedings on counts of a terrorist attack over an explosion and shooting at a college in the Russian-occupied city of Kerch because Crimea is Ukrainian territory and people living there are also Ukrainian citizens, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has said.
“A terrible murder occurred in Kerch today. The prosecutor’s office reported to me that a criminal case had been opened,” the press service of the head of state quoted him as saying at a meeting with the Ukrainian delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
Poroshenko noted that the investigation into such cases is important to Ukraine because Crimea is part of Ukraine and Ukrainians living in occupation on the peninsula are citizens of the Ukrainian state.
“Why is it important to us? Because these are Ukrainian citizens. Of course, when Ukrainian citizens die, no matter where it happens, it’s a tragedy,” Poroshenko said, expressing his condolences to Ukrainians who lost their children and loved ones.
The Prosecutor’s Office of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea opened criminal proceedings on counts of a terrorist attack over an explosion in Kerch.
“The Crimean Prosecutor’s Office has registered criminal proceedings on the counts of a terrorist attack under Article 258, Part 3 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine,” the head of a unit of the prosecutor’s office, Roman Murachov, said at a briefing in Kyiv on Oct. 17.
He said that in this situation, the prosecutor’s office collects information from the media, including on the theories of the accident, the number of those killed and injured, as well as other data.
“We are checking all theories without exception […] Instructions will be given to the SBU to check these theories,” Murachov said.
Nineteen people were killed in an explosion and shooting at the Kerch Polytechnic School on Oct. 17. The investigation originally opened a criminal case on terrorism charges, but it turned out later that one person, a school student identified as Vladislav Roslyakov, was responsible for setting off an explosive device and shooting people. Roslyakov also killed himself in the process. The case was reclassified as mass murder.
