The tentative results of the joint investigation conducted by the office of the Ukrainian human rights ombudsman and civil society indicate that the main cause of the tragic events that occurred in Odesa on May 2, when some fifty people were killed, was the poor performance of local law enforcement agencies.
Ukrainian parliamentary human rights commissioner Valeria Lutkovska told an international conference Effective Investigation through Cooperation held in Kyiv on Thursday, Sep. 19 that a special mechanism of joint investigations involving civil society, which envisages cooperation with the public on investigations into systemic human rights violations, collection of evidence of human rights violations, and control over the ombudsman’s reaction has been created this year.
“Valeria Lutkovska said the investigation into human rights violations during the tragic events that occurred in Odesa on May 2, 2014, resulting in the deaths of 48 people, is a fine example of a joint investigation involving civil society. Tentative results of this investigation clearly show that the main cause of the tragedy was the lack of a proper reaction from the local law enforcement agencies and the low productivity of their work,” the press service said in its report.
According to earlier reports, 48 people were killed and over 200 were hurt in riots that occurred in Odesa on May 2. Most of the people who were killed died in a fire in the city’s Union House.
