Ukraine’s Opposition Bloc calls to set up commission to investigate Odessa 2014 tragedy

The Opposition Bloc faction in the Ukrainian parliament has suggested the parliament set up a temporary investigation commission to probe into the developments in the Black Sea port city of Odessa on May 2, 2014, which claimed 48 lives, Yuri Boiko, the faction’s leader, said on Monday.

“Whereas there is some progress in the investigation of the maidan [Kiev’s central Independence Square — TASS] developments, there is absolute silence on what concerns the Odessa tragedy. That is why we propose to set up a temporary investigation commission like the one on the maidan developments,” he said.

On May 2, 2014, activists of Right Sector [outlawed in Russia as an extremist organization] and the so-called “Maidan self-defence” set ablaze a tent camp organized in front of the House of Trade Union by federalization supporters who collected signatures in favour of a referendum on the federalization of Ukraine and granting the Russian language an official state language status. Federalization supporters retreated to the House of Trade Unions but radicals encircled the building and set it on fire. A total of 48 people were killed and more than 200 were injured.

Twenty-two people were charged with instigating the clashes. Eleven are in custody, eleven others are on the wanted list. Investigators however found no evidence of deliberate arson. Odessa’s district court on April 27 referred the indictment back to the prosecutor general’s office for further investigation, saying it lacked details and actual proof of the suspects’ guilt.