Ukraine must ensure independent investigations into the recent murders to avoid an unnecessary escalation of the conflict - Main contents
Following the recent series of odd deaths and killings in Ukraine, the ALDE Group in the European Parliament calls on the Ukrainian authorities to investigate these cases in a transparent and independent way.
Given the Ukrainian-Russian conflict, it is very important to avoid unnecessary escalation and politically driven interpretations in this regard.
In addition, the Ukrainian government should ensure stricter observance of freedom of speech in the media by all sides in the Ukrainian conflict, including security of journalists.
MEP Hans van Baalen (VVD, The Netherlands), ALDE spokesman on Ukraine calls for a swift and independent investigation of these cases:
"Given the explosive atmosphere due to the Ukrainian-Russian conflict, we must avoid that the murders are politically used. Therefore, the Ukrainian authorities must conduct a transparent and independent investigation."
ALDE Group Vice-President, Petras AUŠTREVIČIUS (Liberal's Movement of Lithuania) stated:
"I strongly deplore the recent killings of journalists and of the former MP of Ukraine. In my capacity as Chair of the Informal Group of Friends of European Ukraine in the European Parliament, I call on the Ukrainian authorities to do its utmost and ensure the swift, independent and transparent investigations of all these tragic cases. In addition, full observance of freedom of speech regardless of the political views must be guaranteed. Scope and quality of the democratic changes in Ukraine will be judged on its ability to deal with these and similar cases in a truly professional and unbiased manner."
Last week, 3 journalists were killed: Oles Buzina and Sergey Sukhobok in Kiev and Olga Moroz in the Khmelnitsky region, Western Ukraine. Former member of the Ukrainian parliament, Oleg Kalashnikov was shot dead in Kiev as well. In addition, in the past few months, a number of former Ukrainian government officials died in a mysterious way.