Series
of ‘bizarre suicides’ & murders: Former Ukrainian MP shot
dead in Kiev
RT,
14
April, 2014
A
former Ukrainian MP and active anti-Maidan activist, Oleg
Kalashnikov, has been killed in his flat in Kiev. His killing is the
latest in a series of odd deaths plaguing former government officials
and ex-President Yanukovich’s party members.
The
52-year-old was found dead at his residence in Kiev on Wednesday
evening. His death was “caused by a gunshot,”
the Interior Ministry said in a statement announcing a police
inquiry. Ukraine’s criminal investigation chief Vasily Paskal, took
the investigation under personal control and promised to share
motives and the preliminary results of the probe with reporters as
soon as they become available.
The
investigation is focused on five possible motives for the crime,
according to Interior Minister’s senior adviser, Anton Gerashcheжko.
So
far the investigation considers the primary possible motive behind
the killing to be Kalashnikov’s “political activity”
linked with his “participation in the organization and
financing” of
counter-revolutionary events in Ukraine. Gerashchenko emphasized that
Kalashnikov “had knowledge”
of the anti-Maidan movement that resisted the coup last year and
continues to challenge new authorities in Kiev.
“Without
any doubt the deceased knew a lot about who and in what way financed
anti-Maidan, which cost Yanukovich and his camarilla several million
hryvnias per day. He takes these secrets with him to the grave,”
Gerashchenko said, also listing some other leads on his Facebook
page. Business debts, personal enmity, burglary attempt and “other
versions of murder”are listed
among other possible motives.
Ukrainian
media reported that before the murder Kalashnikov received threats of
physical violence for his political views, in particular for his
drive to defend Ukrainians’ right to widely celebrate the 70th
anniversary of WWII victory.
In
a letter addressed to his friend before the murder, Kalashnikov
allegedly wrote that an “open
genocide on dissent, death threats and constant dirty insults”
have become the “norm”
following his open call to honor the memory of heroes and victims of
the Great Patriotic War.
An
acting Ukrainian MP and ex-spokesman for the extremist Right Sector
group, Borislav Bereza, went further and alleged that Kalashnikov has
been eliminated by his “former
employers,”
who were tying up loose ends, “scared”
he could disclose details of their past activities. While part of the
secret was “taken
to the grave,”
some information remained in “electronic
form,”
Bereza stated
“A
series of bizarre suicides of ex-regionals [Members of the Party of
Regions], and now the murder of Kalashnikov, raises questions to law
enforcement authorities. I hope that Ukrainian society will get the
answers,”
Bereza said.
Meanwhile,
Oleg Tsarev, parliamentary speaker of the self-proclaimed
Novorossiya, agreed that Kalashnikov’s murder is the latest link in
a chain of mysterious deaths of former supporters of the Party of
Regions.
“Of
course, this is a political murder. In Ukraine, it is now extremely
difficult to maintain your point of view, not to give up, and to
publicly express it,”
Tsarev told Lifenews. “Of
course, this is a retaliatory murder of the sane.”
The
murder is meant as a warning for all those who dare to oppose Kiev
government, which can do anything against the opponents, Tsarev
believes.
In
the past few months, at least eight former Ukrainian government
officials died mysterious deaths, with most treated as suicides.
On
January 29, former chairman of Kharkov region government, Aleksey
Kolesnik, was found hanged.
On
February 24, former Party of Regions member Stanislav Melnik died of
a gunshot with his death treated as suicide.
On
February 25, several hours before his trial, the Mayor of Melitopol
Sergey Valter was found hanged leaving no suicide note.
The
next day, February 26, deputy chief of Melitopol police, Aleksandr
Bordyuga, who reportedly acted as Valter’s lawyer, was found dead
in his garage.
On
February 26, a former MP and ex-chairman of Zaporozhye Regional State
Administration was found dead with a gun wound to his neck. His death
is being investigated as a suicide.
On
February 28, former member of the Party of Regions, Mikhail
Chechetov, jumped from the window of his 17th floor apartment in
Kiev, leaving a suicide note.
On
March 14, a 32-year-old prosecutor Sergey Melnichuk fell from a
window of a 9th floor apartment in Odessa.
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