KIEV, August 2 (RIA Novosti) – Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Vitaly Yarema on Saturday urged to speed up the investigation of the May 2 tragic events in Odessa, which claimed the lives of at least 48 people and injured over 200.
“In this context I would like to pay attention to the necessity of a speedy legal decision, concerning criminal proceedings over the tragic events in Odessa in early May,” UNIAN news agency quoted Yarema as saying.
The Prosecutor General recalled that following the results of an inspection the prosecutor of Odessa Region, almost all his deputies and a number of other officials were dismissed.
On May 2, clashes in Odessa broke out between pro-federalization activists and fans of the Odessa and Kharkiv football teams, later joined by Euromaidan activists.
Pro-Kiev radicals, joined by Right Sector gunmen, blocked the anti-government protesters in the House of Trade Unions and set the building on fire with the help of Molotov cocktails.
According to official data, 48 people died in the fire but local officials insist the authorities in Kiev covered up the actual death toll of at least 116.
A spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, Alexander Lukashevich said last month that Kiev was deliberately hampering the investigation into the tragedy, as well as into other cases of human rights violations in Ukraine.
