15:47 27.02.2021

Kyiv protestors throw firecrackers, flares at prosecutor general's office building

2 min read
Kyiv protestors throw firecrackers, flares at prosecutor general's office building

Around 1,500 people are protesting outside the building of the Prosecutor General's Office in Kyiv on Saturday in support of an imprisoned activist, Serhiy Sternenko.

The protestors are throwing flares and firecrackers at the roof edge, an Interfax-Ukraine correspondent reported.

They are calling for immediate release of Sternenko whom they consider to be a political prisoner.

"We came here to show that the Ukrainian public is not asleep. We came here to show that the Ukrainian judiciary is a threat to our national security. Our demands are to release Sternenko immediately, reform the judiciary, elect judges in a fair competition," one protestor said.

There are many police officers around, but they have not interfered yet.

On June 11, 2020 Sternenko was summoned by the Security Service which notified him of being suspected of premeditated murder and illegally carrying a cold weapon. At issue are events which happened during an assault on Sternenko in Odesa in 2018. One of the assailants died. According to the inquiry, Sternenko acted not only in self-defense because he ran after the assailant and injured him fatally.

Later Sternenko also was charged with kidnapping Kominternivsky district councilor (Odesa region) Serhiy Scherbych.

On February 23 a court in Odesa sentenced Sternenko to seven years of imprisonment after finding him guilty of kidnapping Scherbych.

Photo - Iegor Shumikhin

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