On July 20, 2016, journalist Pavlo Sheremet was killed in Kyiv. Sheremet had Belarusian and Russian citizenship, worked in Moscow before fleeing to Ukraine.
After the murder, one of the versions was the "Russian trail": if Sheremet was an agent of the Russian special services, who then refused to work for them and fled to Ukraine, then it was quite logical to consider the version of the Kremlin's revenge. After all, the Kremlin liquidated its citizens who fled abroad and told the truth about the Putin regime (as was the case with Lytvynenko or Skripal, who were poisoned by the Russian special services).
The case was investigated, including by representatives of the SBU (Security Service of Ukraine), which was quite logical, because a foreign citizen was killed and, obviously, with the aim of discrediting our state in the eyes of the West. But then, for some reason, the case was taken to the SBU and it was dealt with exclusively by the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
On December 12, 2019, a press conference was held with the participation of President V. Zelenskyi, Minister of Internal Affairs A. Avakov, and the then General Prosecutor R. Ryaboshapka, at which the names of the persons allegedly involved in the murder of Sheremet were named.
In addition to A. Antonenko - SSO sergeant, music performer (pseudo Rifmaster), Yu. Kuzmenko - volunteer, children's surgeon, and Ya. Dugar - military medic, the Hryshchenko couple appears in the investigation, who allegedly prepared explosives to kill the journalist. They were imprisoned earlier than Antonenko and Kuzmenko, but in a different proceeding.
The case caused a great resonance and public rejection. People began to create initiatives to support the regime's prisoners and regularly visit the courts. After several meetings, the case began to fall apart.
Here are the main things to know about the case:
The investigation called Antonenko and Kuzmenko the orderers of the murder and at the same time the executors - as if they planted explosives. Dugar is an accomplice who allegedly took photos of surveillance cameras. But the investigation could not prove the motive (at first, the motive was the idiotic statement that "Antonenko admired ultra-nationalist ideas and cultivated the greatness of the Aryan race"). Therefore, in the end, they changed the suspicion. Now, Antonenko and Kuzmenko are considered the likely perpetrators of the murder, not the orderers or organizers. But the investigation did not put forward any adequate versions regarding the customers or organizers, as well as the motive of the crime.
The main physical evidence is a video from a surveillance camera on the street. Khmelnytskyi. There, a man and a woman who looked like Kuzmenko and Antonenko and a girl who looked like Dugar were recorded. Also, as evidence, the investigation provided an examination of the gait of the persons on the video and compared it with the gait of the current participants in the case.
Falsifications of the investigation: the people in the video are shorter than Dugar, Kuzmenko and Antonenko
But:
– The examination of the video does not take into account that the persons on the cameras are significantly LESS tall than Antonenko and Dugar;
– There is no explanation as to how people can be compared by gait if the difference in height is more than 10 cm;
- T.z. "gait examination" does not explain why in the 2016 video the man and woman are almost the same height, but Antonenko is much taller than Kuzmenko;
- There is no state-recognized gait examination methodology in Ukraine. That is, the proof is doubtful. The expert, who turned out to be a karate coach and whom the National Police brought in from Britain, also did not provide a convincing conclusion, but only assumed that the gait of the persons from the video surveillance cameras and Antonenko, Kuzmenko is somewhat similar.
- Yana Dugar has tattoos on her hands made before 2016, they would be visible on cameras. But the girl in the video has no tattoos. There is also no evidence that a girl who looks like Yana (actually, not very much) took pictures of anything, especially surveillance cameras. And if she took pictures of cameras, the investigation cannot prove for what purpose. And if she took photos, why was only one of the more than two hundred others, and only the one where the alleged criminals passed without covering up.
- The wounded in the 66th mobile hospital in the city of Pokrovsk recognized her and confirmed that at the time when the murder was being prepared and carried out, she was in this hospital as a military nurse and provided them with assistance. This was also confirmed by medical workers who worked with Yana Dugar at that time in a closed military hospital.
The examination does not prove the similarity of Yana Dugar and the girl on the surveillance video
And this is not the entire list of "inconsistencies" between the version of the investigation and the available physical evidence.
The main "thread" connecting Dugar, Antonenko and Kuzmenko is their acquaintance with the Hryschenkos, as well as the fact that Antonenko lives not far from the place of the murder. And the Hryshchenkos are considered to be involved in the case only because they are suspected of making an explosive device for an attempt to kill a businessman in Kolomyia (But the same Yana met the Hryshchenkos in 2019, not in 2014 or 2016, as the investigation insisted ). The investigation did not put forward more adequate versions. At the same time, legally, no suspicions were raised against the Hryschenkos in the Sheremet case.
The ex-prosecutor general Ryaboshapka also spoke about the insufficient amount of evidence, and even Zelensky began to doubt that the real perpetrators of the murder were on the dock.
But the investigation (the National Police represented by spokesmen of the Ministry of Internal Affairs) continues to bend the line regarding Antonenko, Kuzmenko and Dugar. It seems that the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs is worried that if the accused are found innocent, it, the leadership, will have irreversible consequences and will have to bear at least political responsibility.
Photo - Ukrainian truth
