BERLIN, April 17. /TASS/. Germany regrets the killing of journalist Oles Buzina in Ukraine and calls on Kiev to investigate the murder, a representative of the German Cabinet told TASS on Friday.
"It [the German government] expects that the circumstances of the crime will be immediately investigated during relevant legal procedures, and the perpetrators will be punished," she stressed, expressing condolences to the family and friends of Oles Buzina.
"Violence cannot and should not be the means of political discussion," the representative said.
Ukrainian journalist and writer Oles Buzina was killed near his home in Kiev at midday on Thursday, April 16. Buzina was a well-known Ukrainian journalist, writer and TV presenter. He is the author of two books, including "Vampire Taras Shevchenko" and "The Union of Plough and Trident". Buzina used to be the editor-in-chief of the Segodnya newspaper who had to quit his post because of censorship in March this year.
Oles Buzina will be buried on Sunday, April 19 at the Berkovetsk cemetery in Kiev.
World Russian People’s Council condemns Buzina’s murder
The killing of Ukrainian journalist Oles Buzina shows that the practice of violent "extermination of the unsuitable" or any dissident opinion different from the stance of the ruling elite has become commonplace in contemporary Ukraine, the World Russian People’s Council said in a statement published on Friday.
According to the Council’s members, Buzina’s name could have been on the so-called blacklists of "the enemies of Ukraine", which should be neutralized.
The authors of such blacklists are open about their intention to apply the methods that were widely used by Bandera nationalists, members of punitive battalions and collaborationists during the Great Patriotic War /1941-1945/. Logically, we are witnessing a campaign of terror, intimidation and killings of the unsuitable, the Council said in its statement.
"The practice of persecuting people whose views fall out of line with the stance of the ruling elite and the government-controlled media," the document stressed.
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EU calls for independent inquiry into recent murders in Ukraine
EU has demanded an independent investigation of the murder of Ukrainian journalists Oles Buzina and Sergey Sukhobok and politician Oleg Kalashnikov, the press secretary of the EU High representative for Foreign and Security Policy said on Friday.
"We condemn the recent killings of the journalists Oles Buzina and Sergei Sukhobok, as well as of Oleg Kalashnikov, a former MP," said Maja Kocijancic, the press secretary. "We call for independent and transparent investigations of these cases so that those responsible can be brought to justice."
"Our sincere condolences go out to the families and friends of the victims," she said.
Kocijancic added that the EU stressed significance of the freedom of media and freedom of expression.
Former deputy of Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rad, Oleg Kalashnikov, was killed on April 15. The assassination of journalist Sergey Sukhobok occurred on the night from April 12 to April 13.