Ukrainian President Petr Poroshenko has ordered to wipe out all oppositionists and cumbersome journalists, former Ukrainian Prime Minister, head of the Rescue Committee of Ukraine Nikolay Azarov told the La Repubblica newspaper on Friday in connection with the detention in Italy of Ukrainian opposition politician Igor Markov who is also a member of this committee.
“The Markov case runs counter to the European concept of human rights. Markov is risking his life, because Ukraine became a Nazi state, where thousands of political prisoners are kept behind bars and cumbersome journalists are liquidated. In this country books are prohibited and Hitler is glorified. I know for sure that Poroshenko ordered to destroy all of us, because Kiev is afraid – there are too many of us,” Azarov said.
“We noted that a rally was planned on Friday outside the Italian Embassy in Moscow to demand the release of Igor Markov detained in Italy through the Interpol channels at the request of Kiev. In his country, the former lawmaker is suspected of organizing the beating of the participants in the rally in the Black Sea port of Odessa in 2007.”
“Markov had contacts with Italian politicians, from both the opposition and the ruling party as well as with journalists. He wanted to get the message through to them,” the former Ukrainian premier said.
Earlier on Friday, a court in Genoa refused to extradite Markov to Ukraine, saying that Kiev’s request was politically motivated.
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roger
For the moment the genoese court which has refused to extradite Mr Markov has done the right thing. Mr Markov should not have been arrested at all by the Italians since he has committed no crime. Speaking your mind cannot be considered a criminal offense.
However, the judge should have based his decision on article 21 of the Italian constitution which declares: “All have the right to manifest their thoughts freely by means of speech, the written word, or any other means of diffusion”, and should therefore be set free immediately.
Instead he used article 10 which says: “Extradition of foreigners is not permitted on the grounds of political crimes”.
Unfortunately this would seem to suggest that Mr Markov is considered guilty of a political crime by associating with ex- Prime Minister Azarov’s Ukraine Rescue Committee. However, given the political nature of the charges brought by the Ukraine, Mr. Markov is entitled to benefit from political asylum. Article 10: “The foreigner who cannot exercise in his country the democratic rights guaranteed by the Italian Constitution has the right of political asylum according to the conditions established by the law”.
What the Italians do next will show if they are hand in hand with the US and Ukraine’s Neo-nazi party, or if they still have some independence left.