Ukrainian soldier in Avdiivka, Donetsk region. File photoROME, Feb 12The authors of the TV movie «The Discipline of Silence», the second part of which was shown by the Italian news channel RaiNews24, found new evidence of their version of the death of the Italian reporter Andrea Rocchelli and his interpreter, Russian human rights activist Andrei Mironov in the Donbass. A week ago, Andrea Scherezini and Giuseppe Borello presented a witness to those events: this man, whose name is not given, and his face is not shown, at that time fought in the 95th airmobile brigade. According to him, on May 24, 2014, he was on Mount Karachun just opposite the place where Rocchelli and Mironov were killed. He told TV reporters that the order to open fire from the automatic mortar «Vasilek» was then personally given by the commander of the brigade Mikhail Zabrodsky, who in August 2014 became the Hero of Ukraine, and is now a deputy of the Verkhovna Rada.
Details of death of journalists in Donbass revealed in Italy One of them, named «Yura», they found in a provincial town in the Ukrainian outback. Confirming that he was on Mount Karachun that day, the interlocutor of the journalists could not remember who exactly opened the mortar fire, calling those events a complete mess. “I might not have been on duty at that moment. Perhaps your witness saw more than me. Now I don’t remember anything,” Yura said. The next day, the key witness is said to have contacted «Yura» again, who again declined to comment. In the words of the filmmakers, «he is afraid or does not want to talk.» Another former serviceman of the Ukrainian Armed Forces met Italian journalists on the outskirts of Kiev. In an interview, he blamed the shooting on the militias, but a few minutes earlier, which was captured by Italian cameras, he contacted someone on the phone, in fact, received instructions on what to say. In this telephone conversation, he says: «So it was ours, ours (removed)? I understood.» Italian journalists in this regard argue that part of the «discipline of silence» was not only the reluctance of possible witnesses to talk about the shelling itself, but also delays by the Ukrainian police, as evidenced by the Ukrainian court's 2016 verdict of the «unacceptable» nature of the violations in the investigation into the deaths of reporters. The Italians considered suspicious people who began to ask the wife of their source about his probable whereabouts after talking with investigative journalists as another noticeable detail. Evidence of the use of the Vasilek automatic mortar was another topic of this issue. To do this, the authors contacted the French reporter William Rogelon, who was under fire along with Rocchelli and Mironov, but survived, having been wounded. In conversation, he confirmed that they were fired on in series of several shots, which is consistent with the version of their leading source. In addition, in support of the version about the presence of «Cornflowers» in service with the 95th air brigade, the authors of the film cite data and documentary evidence from the Ukrainian side, which were collected after the death of journalists in favor of the version of shooting by the Donbass militias.
Zelensky awarded the National Guardsman, who was tried for the murder in the DonbassFinally, the film also included an interview with Zabrodsky, who denied all possible accusations, but admitted that the military units that were at that time on Karachun, including the National Guard fighters, were under his command. Italian TV journalists had to send a list of questions to the press service of the current deputy of the Rada, from which they retreated during the recording, focusing on the case of Rocchelli and Mironov. Speaking about the presence of his unit on Mount Karachun, Zabrodsky noted that this position was located near a large city, and » it was not always easy «to fire at the enemy without the appearance of victims among civilians. According to Zabrodsky, he learned about the death of Rocchelli and Mironov only after the start of the trial against Vitaly Markiv. About the shelling itself, the general said that it could have been fired from any direction. After the interview, Italian journalists received a call from a representative of Zabrodsky, who expressed dissatisfaction with the topics of the previously unagreed questions.The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is concerned about the situation with the safety of media workers in Ukraine In July 2017, Vitaly Markiv, who has citizenship of Ukraine and Italy, was arrested at the Bologna airport in the case of the murder of Rocchelli and Mironov. In 2013, he left Italy for Ukraine to take part in the events on the Maidan, and then joined the volunteer battalion of the National Guard and went to fight in the Donbass, where he acted under the call sign «Italian». In 2019, the jury of the city of Pavia found Markiv guilty of the murder of Rocchelli and Mironov and sentenced him to 24 years in prison. However, in 2020, the Court of Appeal of Milan issued an acquittal against Markiv, which was confirmed by the Italian Supreme Court of Cassation a year later. In December 2020, the Basmanny Court of Moscow issued an arrest warrant in absentia for Markiv on charges of murder in a generally dangerous way motivated by national or political hatred. mortar fire was opened on the group, which included Rocchelli and Mironov. During the appeal process, the prosecution pointed out that the National Guard fighter was sentenced by the court of first instance not because he directly fired from a mortar, but because he provided specific assistance to those who fired at unarmed people.
Yarosh urged to capture Italians in Ukraine
