12:22 18.11.2021

Bellingcat materials to be studied within investigation – Venediktova

2 min read
Bellingcat materials to be studied within investigation – Venediktova

Ukrainian investigating authorities will study the materials contained in Bellingcat's report, Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova has said.

"There is an investigation, it is being conducted, what other interrogations will be conducted by the investigation, I think it would be better for you to ask the SBI directly. We have prescribed a fairly large list in our prosecutorial instructions," the prosecutor general told reporters in Kyiv on Thursday, answering a question of Interfax-Ukraine whether the Ukrainian law enforcement agencies will study the materials of the investigation in the framework of the criminal case and whether Head of the President's Office Andriy Yermak will be re-interrogated.

"All materials [investigations], which are carried out by journalists, are always carefully studied by us, they are always attached to the case. Therefore, they will be studied, they will be enclosed," she said.

Venediktova said that criminal proceedings against Wagnergate were opened by several law enforcement agencies.

"Then these cases were combined and were transferred, among other things, to the State Bureau of Investigations," she said.

According to her, all the instructions of the prosecutor's office as part of the investigation were in the summer of 2020.

"What has been done, what has not been done, I think it is now incorrect to pronounce it, this is the story of the independence of the pretrial investigation agency and the possibilities of the prosecutor's office," the prosecutor general said.

When asked what she personally thinks about the assumptions that were made in the Bellingcat investigation, Venediktova said: "I cannot speak with assumptions and evaluations, I can speak with established facts and procedural constructions that we operate with."

The prosecutor general stressed that the prosecutors were involved in the investigation of the Temporary Commission of Inquiry (TIC).

"I would not want to give assessments [...]. Let us wait for some results," concluded Venediktova.

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