Dear People's Deputies of Ukraine!
Civil society in Ukraine is deeply concerned about the activities of law enforcement agencies, namely the investigation into one of the most high-profile cases - the murder of journalist Pavlo Sheremet. The entire country is closely following the course of events taking place in this case.
Once again, we are forced to appeal to you with a demand to create a temporary investigative commission of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine to exercise parliamentary control over the murder of Pavlo Sheremet. The investigation into the murder of Pavlo Sheremet has been ongoing for four and a half years without success.
The individuals who organized and committed the crime have not yet been found by law enforcement agencies. Instead, three innocent people — pediatric cardiac surgeon and volunteer Yulia Kuzmenko, Defender of Ukraine and musician Andriy Antonenko, Defender of Ukraine Yana Dugar — became innocent victims of terror by “law enforcement officers.” The motive that allegedly guided the groundlessly accused has not yet been established.
Initially, the “motive” was the “idea of the greatness of the Aryan race”, then the murder was supposed to “provoke” mass protests, now the investigation is talking about a contract crime. Recently, new circumstances have emerged in the case of the murder of Pavel Sheremet that can really expose the real killers and the ones who ordered it. On January 4, 2021, the National Police of Ukraine published a notice about obtaining information about the possible orderers of the murder of Pavel Sheremet, which took place in the summer of 2016. At the same time, a recording of a conversation between representatives of the Belarusian KGB, who, without a hint of conscience, discuss the murder of Pavel, also appeared on the network. Thus, it can be argued that the Sheremet case has a clear political nature, and the constant change in the “motive” of the accused indicates the opacity and bias of the investigation.
Therefore, esteemed members of the Ukrainian parliament, you see that the case of the murder of Pavlo Sheremet has a high level of public interest, because the real criminals remain unpunished, while innocent people are kept behind bars and are being groundlessly accused of a cruel crime.
We ask you to urgently unblock the creation of a temporary investigative commission of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine to exercise parliamentary control over the murder case of Pavlo Sheremet, the creation of which was announced back in 2019. Otherwise, the investigation will lose its last chance to find the real criminals, and Yulia Kuzmenko, Andriy Antonenko, and Yana Dugar will become lifelong innocent victims of terror by “law enforcement agencies,” and Ukraine will suffer reputational losses in the international arena. We appeal to all parliamentary factions and groups to support the creation of the TSC.
Refusal or ignoring this requirement makes you an accomplice to a crime, because innocent citizens suffer because of this, and the murderers and instigators remain unpunished. We will do everything to ensure that the initiators and political patrons of the persecution of Yulia Kuzmenko, Andriy Antonenko, and Yana Duhar bear political and criminal responsibility. We will closely monitor the meeting of the Conciliation Council of the Parliament, which will be held on January 25.
