On November 3, 2020, the Milan Court of Appeal fully acquitted and released the Ukrainian soldier Vitalii Markiv. Congratulations on the establishment of the truth in the case. We are proud of the work of experts of the Kyiv Scientific Research Institute of Forensic Expertise of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, whose professional conclusions became the basis of the acquittal.
Let us remind. The National Guard was detained on June 30, 2017 in Italy on suspicion of involvement in the death of the photojournalist, Italian citizen Andrea Rochelle, and his translator, Russian human rights defender Andrii Mironov, in the city of Sloviansk in May 2014. According to the testimony of the Ukrainian side, Vitalii Markiv was not involved in the death of these people.
As part of the criminal investigation and due to the result of a number of investigative actions in Sloviansk, Ukraine was able to obtain and provide the Italian justice with irrefutable evidence of Vitalii Markiv’s innocence, based on the professional conclusions of experts from the Kyiv Scientific Research Institute of Forensic Expertise of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine.
The experts of the Institute, headed by Director Oleksandr Ruvin, who personally supervised the events, conducted unique forensic examinations: phonoscopic, photographic, ballistics, military, explosive and trace studies. The result of the work was a complete restoration of the picture of events, the establishment of the impossibility of committing the incriminated Ukrainian crime and an acquittal.
We express our gratitude for the high professionalism, operational work directly on the scene and serving for the good of justice:
Yevhen Tymko, Head of the Department of Forensic Speech, Audio Analysis and Forensic Information Technology;
Tymur Tsapko, Head of the Trasology, Ballistics, Explosive and Weapons Research Department of the Criminalistics Laboratory;
Viktor Shevchuk, forensic expert of the Department of Quality and Cost of Road Construction Works Research of the Engineering and Technical Types Research Laboratory;
Ruslan Demianenko, forensic expert of the Department of Forensic Speech, Audio Analysis and Forensic Information Technology.
We also thanks to all experts of the Kyiv Scientific Research Institute of Forensic Expertise who took part in carrying out examinations in this case.
Without exaggeration, the acquittal of Vitalii Markiv is a significant event for Ukrainian society, a testament to the high professionalism of law enforcement officers, human rights activists and experts in Ukraine, and a triumph of truth.
