172 detained for participation in mass riots in Odessa, some already released - Ukrainian Interior Ministry
3 May 2014, 16:45 -- A total of 172 people were detained following mass riots in Odessa, and some of these people have already been released, the public relations department of the Ukrainian Interior Ministry's Main Department for the Odessa region has reported, citing Deputy Interior Minister Serhiy Chebotar.
'Ten criminal cases have been opened. A total of 172 people were detained in connection with the investigations. Some of them were released after giving personal obligations and 127 are held as active participants in the riots. Pre-trial investigative measures are being taken on them,' Chebotar said, Interfax reports.
Chebotar has arrived in Odessa as head of the commission investigating the May 2 events.
Mass clashes between Right Sector fighters and anti-Maidan activists occurred in Odessa on May 2. Some fifty people were killed in the clashes and subsequent fire in the Union House, where the anti-maidan activists had hidden.
In the meantime, the Kremlin has blamed the tragedy in Odessa on the Kiev administration. 'The Kiev administration is not only directly responsible for it, but is a direct accomplice in these criminal actions. Their hands are blood-stained to the elbows,' Russian presidential press officer Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Saturday.
Peskov reiterated that the tragedy in Odessa took place 'with clear connivance of those who consider themselves to be the Kiev administration. 'It is with their connivance that extremist and radical activists burned unarmed people alive. I reiterate: the people were unarmed,' he said.
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