KIEV, May 1. /TASS/: Ukraine’s authorities are not seeking to carry out a fair investigation into the tragedy that occurred in the southern city of Odessa five years ago, the political council chief of Ukraine’s Opposition Platform - For Life party, Viktor Medvedchuk, said on Wednesday.
"The bloody tragedy in Odessa: the fighting on Kulikovo Field and the fire at the Trade Unions House, where 48 people died and more than 200 others were injured. It seemed that the pro-European democratic authorities must have done everything to find and punish those guilty. However, over these past five years the regime, backed by ultra-patriots and radicals of all stripes, has not found it necessary to remember this terrible tragedy," the politician said, according to the party’s press service.
The relatives of those killed did not hear any words of support and condolences from the authorities and did not see their desire to carry out an unbiased investigation, find and punish those guilty, he noted. "The lack of desire to bring to justice those behind this, as former US envoy to the UN Samantha Power said a year after the tragedy, is the key reason why the perpetrators have neither been found nor punished," Medvedchuk said.
The politician stressed that the Opposition Platform - For Life party would ensure that the investigation into the Odessa tragedy is held and those behind it are brought to justice.
On May 2, 2014, Ukrainian radical nationalists, including members of the Right Sector organization (outlawed in Russia) set fire to the Trade Union House in the city of Odessa, where protesters against the coup had found refuge. According to official estimates, the clashes killed 48 people, most of whom lost their lives in the Trade Union House tragedy, while 240 more people were reported to be injured in the inferno and its aftermath.
