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Mother of murdered Ukrainian journalist files complaint with UN

Ukrainian journalist Oles Buzina was shot dead on April 16, 2015
Portrait of journalist Oles Buzina Valeriy Sharifulin/TASS
Portrait of journalist Oles Buzina
© Valeriy Sharifulin/TASS

KIEV, August 14. /TASS/. Attorneys of Valentina Buzina, the mother of journalist Oles Buzina, who was killed in Kiev in 2015, have filed a complaint with the United Nations, accusing the Ukrainian authorities of abusive treatment, attorney Renat Kuzmin said on Monday.

"The United Nations should consider the revolting attitude that the Ukrainian authorities adopted towards Valentina Pavlovna Buzina, who was recognized as the aggrieved party in the case of her son’s murder," the attorney wrote on Facebook. "Defense attorneys have filed a relevant complaint with the UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment," Kuzmin added.

On August 7, Oles Buzina’s mother filed a lawsuit against Ukraine with the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). According to her attorney, "Ukraine’s prosecutor general, the head of Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) and the president plotted to refuse from meeting with the aggrieved party, let alone accepting her claims," while "since they represent the country’s current authorities, they should be held accountable for before the European Court." Kuzmin said earlier that the lawsuit was based on the state’s nonfulfillment of its duty to ensure a fast, full and independent investigation into Buzina’s murder, as well as on numerous violations conducted during the investigation.

Murder and investigation

Oles Buzina, a journalist, writer and TV host known for opposing the Kiev authorities, was shot dead on April 16, 2015. In May 2009, Buzina proposed that a package of laws be adopted that would prohibit the propaganda of the legacy of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN, outlawed in Russia) since it was a totalitarian fascist party. In 2014, he wrote articles in support of the residents of Donbass.

Two months after his murder, supporters of nationalists ideas Andrei Medvedko and Denis Polishchuk were arrested on suspicion of carrying out the crime. However, they were later released on parole. In late June 2016, the Kiev Prosecutor’s office said that the pre-trial investigation had been compled and the murder case had been submitted to court.