KIEV, July 8. /TASS/. The statement of Mikhail Saakashvili, the new governor of Odessa region, that the building of the House of Trade Unions in the southern port city can be handed over to the Navy violates Ukraine’s legislation, the federation of trade unions said on Wednesday.
"In the whole world, and Ukraine is not an exception, the property of trade unions like any property is private property protected by the law. No state official can unilaterally manage it instead of the owner," the trade unions said in a statement.
"The decision on its dispossession can be taken only by the elected body of the trade unions in line with its powers defined by the Charter," the statement also reads.
On May 2, on the anniversary of last year’s Odessa massacre, Saakashvili said Ukraine’s Navy may be headquartered in the building of the House of Trade Unions after the restoration works are completed there.
On May 2, 2014 the radicals from the Right Sector extremist organization, which is banned in Russia, and the so-called Maidan self-defense set ablaze a tent camp on Kulikovo field in Odessa where local citizens were collecting the signatures for holding a referendum on Ukraine’s federalization and granting the Russian language a state status.
The federalization supporters hid in the House of Trade Unions but the attackers encircled the building setting it on fire. At least 48 people died and over 200 people were injured.