Ukrainian radicals demand Interior Minister's dismissal for Sashko Bily murder
25 March 2014, 20:12 -- The Ukrainian radical group Right Sector demands Interior Minister Arsen Avakov's immediate dismissal and the arrest of members of the Sokil (Falcon) special task force involved in killing nationalist leader Aleksander Muzychko nicknamed Sashko Bily in the Rivne region early on Tuesday.
'We cannot silently accept the Ukrainian Interior Ministry's active counterrevolutionary activities. In this connection, we demand Interior Minister Arsen Avakov's immediate dismissal, and we demand the arrest of the Sokil special task force commander and all those guilty of [Muzychko's] murder,' Right Sector leader Dmytro Yarosh said at a news conference in Kiev on Tuesday.
'Counterrevolutionary pressure on Maidan and Right Sector as the vanguard of our revolution' has been noticeable of late, Yarosh said.
'Our brother-in-arms Aleksander Muzychko's murder - and this is exactly how we interpret what happened last night - confirms this,' Yarosh said. Right Sector understands that 'many want to unsettle and destabilize the situation in Ukraine,' he said.
'Right Sector has favored and favors peace, calmness, and stability in our state and will do anything it can so that no incidents happen in Ukraine,' Yarosh said. Ukrainian First Deputy Interior Minister Vladimir Yevdokymov had said at a news briefing in Kiev on Tuesday morning that Myzychko, who had earlier been declared wanted as a member of an organized criminal gang, had been fatally wounded after opening fire on law enforcement members trying to detain him in the Rivne region in the early hours of Tuesday.
Interior Ministry warns it now views all armed groups as illegal - deputy minister
The time for all unofficial armed groups in Ukraine to voluntarily give up weapons has expired, and from now on all armed units will be regarded as illegal and the law enforcement will act against them accordingly, Ukrainian First Deputy Interior Minister Volodymyr Yevdokymov said.
'I want to tell the Right Sector, the White Sector, [and others]: the time for disarmament is over, it's expired. We will view any armed group and those with unlawful orientation as acting unlawfully, and all our actions will be within this framework. They will be tough and resolute,' Yevdokymov said at a press conference in Kyiv on Tuesday.
Incidents in which armed people involved in hostile takeovers of firms and companies or in other unlawful actions use Right Sector's slogans and introduce themselves as its members have lately become increasingly frequent, Yevdokymov said.
Sashko Bily was fatally injured while being detained by law enforcement authorities - Ukrainian Interior Ministry
Alexander Muzychko, also known as Sashko Biliy, a member of an organized criminal group earlier placed on a wanted list, was gravely injured during his detention because he opened fire on law enforcement officers. 'While he was being detained, he was still alive and the ambulance, which was called, pronounced him dead,' Ukrainian First Deputy Interior Minister Volodymyr Yevdokymov said at a briefing in Kiev on Tuesday.
Late on March 24 employees of the main department for fighting organized crime, including the special-purpose unit Sokol, were holding a special operation in the Rivne region on detaining an organized criminal group.
The detention was carried out in the Three Crucians cafe near Rivne, Yevdokimov said.
'Three people from the organized criminal group were detained and an assault rifle and a pistol were seized from them,' Yevdokimov said.
According to Yevdokimov, during the detention, in response to the officers telling the suspects to 'Freeze!', Muzhychko jumped from the window and then opened fire at a Sokol officer.
'The bullet Muzhychko fired hit the Sokol employee's goggles and then got stuck in his helmet, in response the injured policeman started shooting at the man. Then during the detention itself a fight occurred and more shots were fired,' Yevdokimov said.
The three detained bandits have been brought to Kyiv and investigative proceedings are being held with them.
'Signs of a crime stipulated in the Criminal Code Article 257, banditry, are seen in the actions of the organized criminal group members,' Yevdokimov said.
Yevdokimov said he asked the region's residents for assistance for 'a more detailed investigation of facts of this group's activities.'
Sashko Biliy, suspected of creating an organized criminal group and resisting law enforcement authorities, has been placed on the wanted list.
He has become known recently thanks to the informal communication with representatives of the Ukrainian authorities - local prosecutor and deputies, whom he taught how to behave and what decisions to make.
Right Sector leader killed in Ukraine, Russia has not yet been officially notified
One of leaders of Ukraine's far-right movement Right Sector Alexander Muzychko was killed in the western Ukrainian city of Rivne, local media reported on Tuesday. But he remains on the international most wanted list on charges of banditry and the establishment of an organized criminal group since Russian law enforcement agencies have not been officially notified of the man's murder in Ukraine, a Russian security service source told Interfax.
'Muzychko remains on the international most wanted list because so far the Russian side has not received any official notification from its Ukrainian colleagues concerning his murder,' the source said. Furthermore, even if he was really killed, Russian laws require that the criminal charges filed against Muzychko be referred to court unless his relatives ask the Russian authorities to close the case.
Ukraine's media reported earlier that Right Sector ultra-nationalistic group coordinator Muzychko had been killed in the city of Rivne early on Tuesday morning.
On March 7, the Russian Investigative Committee opened a criminal case against Alexander Muzychko for participation in combat actions on the side of Chechen warlords Khattab and Basayev against Russian servicemen.
'Main investigative department of the Russian Investigative Committee in the North Caucasian Federal District opened a criminal case against Ukrainian citizen Alexander Muzychko, nicknamed Sashko Bily, under Article 209 Part 1 of Russian Criminal Code for formation of a gang to attack Russian citizens and rule it,' spokesperson of the Russian Investigative Committee Vladimir Markin said.
Muzychko and other members of the 'Ukrainian National Assembly — Ukrainian National Self Defense' (UNA-UNSO) party took part in battles against Russian servicemen during the storm of Grozny and brutally tortured the captives, killing them after that. He is responsible for murders of not less than 20 Russian soldiers.
One of the UNA-UNSO members gave testimonies. In 1994-1995, Muzychko and other UNA-UNSO members participated in fights with servicemen of the federal forces during the storm of Grozny. In January 1995, the examinant was repeatedly witnessing Muzychko brutally torturing the captive servicemen and then killing them. When torturing, Muzychko broke the fingers on the hands of army officers, put out eyes, pulled out their nails and teeth with plies, cut throat to some of them, and shot dead the others. 'Thus, with his actions he showed others his hate to Russian servicemen,' Markin added.
Voice of Russia, Interfax, TASS
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