The task of Ukraine's Prosecutor General's Office (PGO) in the case in Italy involving National Guard of Ukraine Vitaliy Markiv is to defend his legal interests during trial, Ukrainian Deputy Prosecutor General Yevhen Yenin has told the Kyiv-based Interfax-Ukraine news agency.

"We are working with Markiv's lawyer and with Italian law-enforcement authorities… The task of defending Markiv involves cooperation with Ukraine's SBU Security Service and National Guard (in which Markiv serves) to help him, to present materials showing Markiv's non-involvement in the murder of [Italian photojournalist Andrea] Rocchelli," Yenin said on Monday. He added that Ukraine's PGO is monitoring the case to ensure it is as transparent as possible and to ensure the charges are objective.

"Our task is to ensure Markiv's legal interests are protected in Italy. We are working with him and the Italian police," he said, adding that on Tuesday, July 4, a court hearing to determine pretrial confinement for Markiv will be held.

As earlier reported Markiv was detained on June 30 in Italy on suspicion of killing an Italian photojournalist. He is deputy platoon commander in the battalion of the National Guard of Ukraine named after General Serhiy Kulchytsky, according to member of the Petro Poroshenko Bloc faction and coordinator of the Kulchytsky battalion Andriy Antonyschak has said.

According to Antonyschak, Markiv has "both Italian citizenship and Ukrainian citizenship", because at a young age he and his mother left Italy for Ukraine.

According to the MP, Markiv took part in the Revolution of Dignity and at the same time he "restored his passport and his Ukrainian status."

Antonyschak said that the Italian side provided Markiv with a lawyer, but the Ukrainian side will turn him down... and will hire their own lawyer.

He noted that now, together with the Ukrainian Consulate General in Italy, they are working to ensure that Markiv is released from prison before trial and in court they will be proving his innocence.

He noted that on May 2, 2014, at 04:00, Sloviansk was stormed by the Kulchytsky battalion, with the participation of the 95th Airborne Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Markiv was in one of the special groups that were on the Mount Karachun. And when the column was blocked, representatives of Russia Today and Italian journalists appeared on the bridge. According to the MP, the photojournalist could not have been killed from the Karachun Mountain, and in addition, the Ukrainian military did not have mortars, but only small arms.