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Ukraine's Odessa court to announce what caused the death of 48 people in May 2 tragedy

Journalists of the 2 May Group have been trying to gain access to the results of forensic expertise that are being stored in the archives

© ITAR-TASS/Andrei Borovsky

ODESSA, March 21 /TASS/. The Odessa administrative court has agreed to announce the causes of death of 48 people who died during a fire at the local House of Trade Unions on May 2, 2014 after months of litigation. "The court recognized that the claimant was right and ruled to satisfy the claim in full measure," the court said in its statement on Thursday.

The tragedy at the Odessa House of Trade Unions occurred on May 2, 2014. A sign-up campaign in support of a referendum turned into clashes between nationalist activists of the Right Sector and the Maidan self-defense groups on the one side and federalization supporters on the other side. The clashes resulted in the local House of Trade Unions being set on fire. More than 200 people were injured in the tragedy while 48 lost their lives.

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Journalists of the 2 May Group who are carrying out an independent investigation into the May tragedy filed the lawsuit some time ago. Over the past few months, they have been trying to gain access to the results of forensic expertise that are being stored in the archives and can give an answer to the question why those people died last May.

‘"In view of colossal public reaction to the tragedy, no considerations of secrecy of investigation can justify attempts to conceal this information from the public," journalist Sergei Dibrov, one of the lawsuit’s authors, told journalists.

The conclusions made by forensic experts are to be published soon.

Two deputy commissions of the Ukrainian parliament and Ukrainian law enforcers who investigated the tragedy have not found the guilty yet. The United Nations has described as "inadequate" the actions of the Ukrainian authorities to investigate the murders committed on Kiev’s Independence Square and the Odessa House of Trade Unions last year.

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