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Ukraine’s ombudsman Lyudmila Denisova expressed hope that the jury in the case against the Ukrainian National Guard, Vitaly Markiv, will hear the arguments of the defense, who will appear in court on October 23.
Verkhovna Rada Human Rights Commissioner Lyudmila Denisova, who was present in Italy today at the appeal in the case of the Ukrainian National Guard Vitaly Markiv, expressed the hope that the jury will come to the conclusion: the Ukrainian is innocent of the death of Italian journalist Andrea Rocchelli. Denisova said this in a video message on her Facebook page.
He pointed out that during today’s meeting, neither the Attorney General nor the victims’ lawyers said anything new, but they were very excited.
“The speeches themselves were phrased in such a way that not only was Markiv on trial, but Ukraine was on trial today. And all these speeches were intended solely for the attention of the jury. They were very emotional, very false, in my opinion. because there was a distortion of some data, assumptions, accusations, even some officials of our state ”, said the Ombudsman.
He recalled that Markiv’s defense side will speak on October 23.
“I think it is the jury who, when they listen to the defense side, they will realize that it is our Markiv who is an innocent person, but only an appointee. [виновным] in the murder of Mr. Rocchelli, “he added.
Markiv was arrested in Bologna on June 30, 2017 on suspicion of being involved in the murder of Italian photojournalist Andrea Rocchelli and his translator Andrei Mironov on May 24, 2014 in the Slavyansk region.
Ukraine’s Interior Ministry said Italian law enforcement officers initiated criminal proceedings against Markiv based on the testimony of a French journalist who provided a video sequence allegedly confirming Markiv’s involvement in Rocchelli’s murder.
Ukrainian law enforcement officials believe that the deaths of the Italian and the Russian were due to the bombings by Russian terrorist forces. There were no mortars in Markiv’s unit, which fired on the alleged whereabouts of the journalist, the Interior Ministry explained.
The Italian prosecution requested 17 years in prison for Markiv. On July 12, 2019, a court in Pavia sentenced the National Guard to 24 years in prison.
On November 20, the defense filed a complaint against the verdict. The lawyers expressed hope that the appeal will begin in the spring. However, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the hearings were postponed until the fall. The Ukrainian remains in a maximum security prison in Milan.
In May 2020, experts from the Kiev Research Institute of Forensic Sciences and the Kiev Polytechnic Institute carried out a research experiment in the Markiv case in Slavyansk. They simulated the conditions of Rocchelli’s death at the same time of year and in the same places where the incident occurred.
On September 11, the defense of the National Guard presented exculpatory evidence in court.
On September 29, the first session of the Milan Court of Appeal took place in the Markiv case.
On October 1, at the second appeal hearing, the court requested an expert opinion of the recording of a conversation that Markiv had with his cellmate on July 1, 2017, the day after his arrest. The prosecution, referring to the first version of the translation, alleged that the Ukrainian had uttered the phrase “We killed an Italian reporter.”
In a session on October 15, the court accepted a new translation of the Ukrainian National Guard conversation, provided by Markiv’s defense. According to the lawyers, the first option was wrong.
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