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Developments in eastern Ukraine

Goncharenko is being interrogated on case opened over crimes during Odessa massacre

MOSCOW, March 1. /TASS/. Lawyer Mark Feigin has confirmed reports that Alexei Goncharenko, a member of Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada /parliament/, was detained during a march of mourning in memory of Boris Nemtsov over non-obeying the police.

Earlier on Sunday, the Moscow police department confirmed Goncharenko’s detention. The police spokesman said Goncharenko had been taken to the Russian Investigations Committee for interrogation.

"Yes, he was detained. My colleague layer Logvinsky, a lawmaker, has just called me from the Rada to ask me to act as Goncharenko’s lawyer. Goncharenko is now at the Kitai-Gorod police station in central Moscow," Feigin told TASS. In his words, Goncharenko was detained on charges of non-obeying police.

Feigin said he had agreed to represent Goncharenko’s interests and planned to meet with him soon. He also said a Ukrainian consul was to go to the police station where Goncharenko was kept.

"I don’t understand how he could be detained, since apart from being a lawmaker of the Verkhovna Rada he is a delegate to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe /PACE/ and ejoys international immunity," the lawyer said.

In the meantime, the Antimaidan movement said in a statement that Goncharnko had taken part in the massacre of the movement’s activists in Odessa on May 2, 2014, when 48 people died in fire at Odessa’s House of Trade Unions.

A criminal case was opened in Russia over an attempt on the life of a Russia citizen who happened to be at the House of Trade Unions in Odessa.

Ukraine’s embassy in Moscow has refrained from comment on Goncharenko’s arrest.

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Eastern Ukraine

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