Foreign Ministry issues statement on detention of Vitaliy Markiv in Italy

Foreign Ministry issues statement on detention of Vitaliy Markiv in Italy

The Ukrainian Consulate General in Milan has filed a motion with a court in the city of Pavia seeking grounds and circumstances of Ukrainian citizen, National Guard serviceman Vitaliy Markiv's detention in Italy and the provision of the opportunity for a consular employee to visit the detainee shortly. The statement says that the consul has got in contact with the detainee's lawyer and has agreed on the algorithm of further actions. Markiv's family members are informed about his detention.

Ukrainian serviceman Markiv, whom the Italian side suspects of the murder of Italian photojournalist Andrea Rocchelli committed near the city of Sloviansk, Donetsk region, in May 2014, was arrested in Italy. At that time he was not in the Kulchytsky battalion. He serves now  in the Kulchytsky battalion as a deputy platoon commander. The Kulchytsky battalion is writing an official letter saying that the photo correspondent could not possibly be killed at the time, because the Ukrainian troops did not have mortars, only small arms.