Translated material
"There was no idea of the murder"
In Odessa, not only political contradictions, but also the negligence of the police and rescuers are to blame for the incident a year ago.
" Odessa Hatin " , " do not forget - we will not forgive . " With these words, Lugansk separatists characterized clashes between supporters of Euromaidan and Antimaydan in Odessa on May 2, 2014, ending with a death of 48 people. These words were posted next to photographs from Odessa in the square next to the building occupied by the separatists by the Lugansk Regional State Administration at the end of May last year . Supporters of the so -called Lugansk People’s Republic then said that what happened adds determination to them in the fight against the government in Kyiv.
A year later, thanks to the activists of the “May 2 group ”, which includes Odessa experts in toxicology, ballistics and chemistry, former police and journalists, not only the chronology of the events of that tragic day, but also the causes of what happened became known. This is not the result of an official investigation by state bodies, but an attempt by residents of the city to figure out what happened.
For a whole year, 13 people painstakingly collected data, interviewed the participants and eyewitnesses of events and found out that almost permanently occurred in the city. It turned out that both sides of the confrontation were at both sides of the confrontation, the dead were also on both sides, Molotov cocktails were also thrown by both supporters of Anti -Maidan and Euromaidan. And the only thing that could save the situation at the time of clashes was the professional work of the police and firefighters. According to one of the participants of the “Group of May 2, Sergey Dibrov , the conclusions of the public investigation will assess the degree of reliability, impartiality and completeness of the official investigation:
In Odessa, not only political contradictions, but also the negligence of the police and rescuers are to blame for the incident a year ago.
- The initial plan to kill such a number of people and in general for the murder of not one of the parties, which, in fact, had more than two, there were no. And what happened is a tragic chain of accidents, and alas, the circumstances developed in such a way that this was the result of degradation, in my opinion, state bodies, which were supposed to monitor the streets, to ensure that the fire and other ways resolve political conflicts. All this together led to events, the ending of which became 48 dead.
- The investigation documents say that the Odessa police developed a plan to prevent clashes, but it was not put into effect.
- According to the order adopted back in 2003, in each regional police department there is an operational plan in case of riots, it is called a “wave”. We know that such a plan was prepared and even updated in agreement with the newly assigned governor, at the end of April last year, that is, just a week before the events. But this order was not put into effect. This is the topic of our separate investigation. If this plan worked, then the riots would be localized in the central part of the city and there would be no continuation a few hours later on the Kulikovo field, which ended with a fire.
-Does this mean that it was beneficial for someone that this plan was not put into action?
- So far, we are inclined to adhere to the version that, apparently, there was a negligence or, unfortunately, the traditional carelessness of the police. We are trying to find out through official requests and through unofficial communication with police officers. It is likely that the plan or job descriptions of individual employees were not clearly spelled out, therefore, as usual, when some task is not prescribed, no one fulfills it. It is likely that this could be that way.
The deputy head of the Odessa police was an intermediary when transferring money to some of the leaders of Anti -Maidan for their bribery
- The authorities are responsible for the post of deputy head of the Odessa police, Andrei Fuchji, who held at that time. Is it really possible to lay all the blame on one person, or are there any other people who could be guilty of what happened?
- Fuchye was a "gray cardinal" and in fact the head of the police in the part that concerned relations with the participants in political protests. He negotiated on each of the parties, and I can say that these negotiations were aimed at the whole of the peaceful resolution of the conflict. He was an intermediary when transferring money to some of the leaders of the anti -Maidan for their bribery. He tried on May 2, before the start of clashes, to take the warring parties away from each other. But the situation completely got out of control. I think that Fuchi was one of the interested parties, and this interest was still positive, that is, maintaining order. At the same time, he wanted this procedure to be brought without the direct physical participation of police officers and their responsibility.
- It is amazing that the police used a bribery. This is not entirely standard, let's say, action. Or can we say that such methods are often used by Odessa police?
- There were tense negotiations on the peaceful liquidation of the tent town on the Kulikovo field. Significant funds were allocated for Odessa, which were also aimed at financing the departure of some representatives of pro-Russian organizations from Kulikovo Field to the Heroic Defense of Odessa Heroic Defense of the 411st Coastal Battery, which is 15 kilometers from the city center, in the open air. Money was transferred with the condition that they are directed to financing this move and activities of the tent town as a health -improving sports camp in the summer. One of the organizations - the "Odessa squad" - accepted this proposal, and we know that it was received money. On April 30, tents were removed from Kulikovo fields. The rest of the participants conducted negotiations, because voluntary care meant defeat for these political groups, and therefore they needed the appearance that they left there under pressure. At this time, the Kulikovo field experienced both the financial crisis and the personnel crisis, the number of active protests decreased, the financing has practically stopped, and therefore they needed a picture that would allow them to introduce themselves to the victims of the new Kyiv government. And such an opportunity should have been given to them - by agreement with the local authorities who wanted to clean Kulikovo field for the parade on the occasion of May 9, in the late evening of May, but without sacrifice.
-You are talking about financing-this means that the money was paid not only by the police, which was interested in the protests to stop, but, apparently, some financing came to the Kulikov Fields before?
- The police spent not his money, financing came from pro -Ukrainian entrepreneurs, Fuchzhi was an intermediary in negotiations, because, by virtue of his duties, he communicated with all parties and enjoyed some confidence in them. Of course, the tent town was financed from the outside, and when this external financing disappeared, it turned out that 200-300 euros that were necessary for the daily maintenance of the tent town for 20-30 people, supporters of Kulikov’s fields could no longer collect. And then the crisis began. Prior to this Kulikovo, the field had external financing, the names of specific Odessa politicians, known for their pro -Russian views, are called.
The first fire engine began to extinguish after about 45 minutes. Unfortunately, by this time there was actually no one to save from the fire
- What caused the fire in the house of trade unions when the largest number of people died?
- The largest tragedy on May 2 is that people who were in the square had a lot of time to decide what to do in such a situation. Street battles were in the center of the city, people understood that the continuation would be on the Kulikovo field, so they decided what to do - to diverge, keep the defense, go to the aid of the city center ... They decided this up to the vote that took place on the square. In the end, they decided to seize the house of trade unions, barricade in it and transfer valuable things there, arrange a fortress there. These people brought them with their own hands to the lobby - in the center of the facade part of the building - according to our calculations, about a ton of wooden boards, pallets, furniture, they also brought inside all the things that were considered valuable. It was an electric generator with a tank of 18 liters of gasoline, several spare cans with gasoline for the generator. They arranged a defense, that is, in the building there were a large number of bottles with an incendiary mixture, components for the manufacture of Molotov cocktails, they brought stones, sticks, firearms inside the building. And when an angry crowd from the city center appeared on the Kulikovo field, people began to shoot, throw bottles, and this provoked aggression against these people. From the video we know that the bottles of incendiary mixture flew into the building, and from the building, and in the end it led to the fact that the barricade, folded by these people in the lobby, caught fire and after 9 minutes this burning became very active, because the effect of traction began, as if firewood was folded, air came from the central entrance and the air entered and the air came from the central entrance and He left, like through a chimney, through a staircase. The building itself did not burn, there were no cases when the fire was transferred from the office to the office. The fire was in the lobby and on the stairs, where there was the highest temperature. The rest of the corridors and rooms were smoked by combustion products. The first message about the fire was received on the fire department at 19 hours 31 minutes. The exit order entered only after 35 minutes, and the first car began to extinguish after about 45 minutes. Unfortunately, by this time there was actually no one to save from the fire.
- As I understand it, the investigation, despite the publication of intermediate results, continues. Recently, the “ May 2 group ” through the court tried to achieve the results of the forensic examination. Why do you need this information?
- The conclusion of the examination is the unique information that we need for work. From here we can draw conclusions about the reliability of certain rumors and myths that arose and which should be checked. I can give a specific example. The Ministry of Internal Affairs disseminated information that chloroform was used inside the house of trade unions, who were strewn with people who died in this fire. For our experts and for journalists, these are absolutely unreasonable and baseless, not corresponding to the reality of the statement. Because there would be a large number of victims with reliable consequences. Inside the building and near the building were in large numbers people who were not killed, there were firefighters without gas masks, police officers, Euromaidan activists, and none of them felt the effect of chloroform, so even on the basis of these information it would be possible to draw a definite conclusion that there was no chloroform in the building. But still, this is the official statement of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which was supposed to be based on something. And having received those documents that are at the disposal of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the conclusion of examinations, where a toxicological study was to be carried out, we could give a final answer to this question. But I can say right away that the day after the publication of our chronologies, the General Prosecutor's Office denied the statements of a year ago about the chloroform, so we consider this issue completely closed. In addition, we deliberately create a judicial precedent. The fact is that under Ukrainian legislation, according to the law on access to public information adopted in 2011, if there is a public interest in certain information, then it should be made public, even if this goes to the detriment of the interests of the investigation. Unfortunately, there is no law enforcement practice, and we create it. We have been judging for four months now, and I think that the court on this issue will last a year, I know that there will be a long and difficult trial, we create a precedent, after which we must officially receive complete texts of the forensic medical examination, which we can use in our independent investigation.