08:58 06.01.2021

Investigative actions in connection with possible 'Belarusian trace' in Sheremet murder case may be carried out in Europe in January – Avakov

4 min read
Investigative actions in connection with possible 'Belarusian trace' in Sheremet murder case may be carried out in Europe in January – Avakov

Ukrainian law enforcement officers have a larger volume of materials indicating that until 2012 the Belarusian special services had been discussing the possibility of killing journalist Pavel Sheremet than the one that was made public in the media, said Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov.

"In December, we received several more materials than were published yesterday [on January 4] in the media, which show us that in the circles of the Belarusian special services until 2012 - the last date, in my opinion, April 2012 - were discussed issues, related to the murder of Pavel Sheremet. These materials were then accepted by us. We have made a number of international legal orders since then," Avakov told reporters in Kharkiv on Tuesday.

"It will be agreed on some investigative actions already now, in January, in Europe," the minister added.

He noted that investigators are still continuing to analyze the documents received. "We have received a lot of documents, now they are being studied," Avakov said.

As reported, on January 4, the Ukrayinska Pravda Internet edition with reference to the published audio recordings and the EUobserver Belgian edition said that the murder of Sheremet was prepared by the special services of Belarus. As follows from the recording of the conversations of head of the State Security Committee of Belarus in 2008-2012 Vadim Zaitsev, transferred to Ukrayinska Pravda by the Belarusian opposition, the secret services of Belarus in 2012, by order of President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, discussed the possibility of detonating Sheremet with explosives, which was carried out four years later.

"The recording contains the words of Zaitsev, recorded by a hidden device on April 11, 2012, during the briefing of officers of the KGB's Alpha Group, an elite counter-terrorist unit, in Zaitsev's office in Minsk. The KGB also discussed killing of Pavel Sheremet, who lived in Russia at the time. The task is to blow him up. And to do it so that this murder becomes a public message," Ukrayinska Pravda said.

Ukrayinska Pravda cites Zaitsev's words published in EUobserver: "We have to work on Sheremet, which is a big headache [...] we will plant a bomb [...] the president [Lukashenko] is waiting for these operations."

Later that day, the National Police of Ukraine announced that it had received information about possible masterminds of the murder of journalist Pavel Sheremet - documents and audio recordings made no later than 2012.

The department also said that the investigation received permission to conduct investigative actions in one of the European countries, and the disposer of the transmitted information was invited to conduct investigative actions.

As reported, Sheremet was killed in a car explosion in central Kyiv on July 20, 2016. The explosion occurred when Sheremet was driving a vehicle that belonged to the Ukrayinska Pravda co-founder Olena Prytula, who was not in it at the time. The journalist died at the scene shortly following the bomb blast.

On December 12, 2019, the police conducted a series of searches and reported suspicion to a number of defendants in the case. On the same day, a briefing was held with the participation of Avakov and President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, at which the interim results of the investigation were partially disclosed and the names of the suspects in the murder of Sheremet were named. The suspicion was notified to military nurse Yana Duhar, volunteer and pediatric cardiac surgeon Yulia Kuzmenko, as well as musician and ATO veteran Andriy Antonenko, all of them were detained. The pretrial investigation against the suspects was completed on May 22.

Kuzmenko is currently under round-the-clock house arrest, Duhar has personal obligations, and Antonenko is in custody. None of the accused admits his guilt in involvement in the murder of Sheremet.

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