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Under the walls of the President’s Office, 20 held a rally in support of activist Sergei Sternenko. Protesters painted the building with paint and set fire to a sign with the words “President of Ukraine”.
On March 20, near the building of the Office of the President of Ukraine, a demonstration is held by supporters of the Odessa activist Sergei Sternenko, who was sentenced to seven years in prison. The organizers of the action scheduled it for the activist’s birthday, today he turns 26.
The activist’s supporters demand the release of Sternenko, accused in the murder case of journalist Pavel Sheremet Andrei Antonenko, in order to impose sanctions on the former deputy head of the administration of the fourth president of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych, Andriy Portnov.
They are also demanding the resignation of Attorney General Irina Venediktova and Interior Minister Arsen Avakov.
According to NV, the protesters came to action with posters “Freedom for Sternenko”, “Today is him, and tomorrow we are all”, “We are not afraid” and others.
The protesters painted the OP building with paint and set fire to a sign with the inscription “President of Ukraine”, the photo was posted on Facebook by blogger Anton Khodza and journalist Sergei Rudenko.
The photo, posted by journalist and blogger Alena Yakhno, shows that the windows on the doors of the President’s Office are broken. NV reported that protesters fired flares inside the building.
Edition Nevada Twitter reported that protesters under the OP lit flares and threw noise grenades.
Serhiy Sternenko supporters light fireworks and throw grenades near the President’s Office pic.twitter.com/DvhgDgWQ0q
– НВ (@tweetsNV) March 20, 2021
The Samozakhist Telegram channel reported that clashes broke out between Sternenko’s supporters and the police.
In addition, the protesters launched fireworks under the OP building, the video is published by the Samozakhist Telegram channel.
Sternenko was found guilty on February 23, 2021 in the kidnapping case of the former deputy of the Comintern district council of the Odessa region, Sergei Shcherbich. He was sentenced to seven years and three months in prison with the arrest of half of his assets. Another person involved in the case, Ruslan Demchuk, received the same term. Both were arrested in the courtroom.
Sternenko’s case has been under investigation since 2015. He and Demchuk were arrested, but later released on bail.
Sternenko denies any involvement in the incident. The activist wrote on Facebook on February 17, 2021 that the only evidence in the case is Shcherbich’s testimony. According to the Prosecutor’s Office, the case also includes the inspection protocols at the scene of the incident and forensic examinations. Sternenko’s defense insisted that they were carried out with numerous violations. In particular, investigators involved a witness in the investigative experiment, whose name was not mentioned and was not summoned to court hearings, Sternenko’s home was searched without the presence of a lawyer and the examination of the stun gun, according to lawyers, was carried out incorrectly, wrote Babel.
Following the court’s decision and Sternenko’s arrest, protests were held in various cities in Ukraine, notably in Odessa, Zhitomir and Kiev, under the Office of the President. In Bankova, the protests ended in clashes with law enforcement officials. Police detained 17 protesters, at least seven people were injured. 27 police and national guards received burns to their eyes. After that, several more demonstrations were held in support of the activist.
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