kiev sniper case - communication to international court about kiev sniper case
DESCRIPTION
I am writing to you as a concerned member of the International Criminal Bar, the organization which represents attorneys who practice before the International Criminal Court. The purpose of this letter is to urge you to immediately launch an investigation of the February 2014 Kiev sniper incidents on your own initiative without further delay.TRANSCRIPT
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Attorneys & Solicitors
1629 K Street NW Suite 300
Washington DC 20006 USA
Tel/Fax 1-202-318-2406
www.brimstoneandcompany.com
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March 5, 2014
Information and Evidence Unit
Office of the Prosecutor
Post Office Box 19519
2500 CM The Hague
The Netherlands
Communication/Information
Crimes against Humanity - Kiev, Ukraine (Sniper Incidents)
Dear Mrs. Fatou Bensouda:
I am writing to you as a concerned member of the International Criminal Bar, the
organization which represents attorneys who practice before the International Criminal
Court. The purpose of this letter is to urge you to immediately launch an investigation of
the February 2014 Kiev sniper incidents on your own initiative without further delay.
The putative government of Ukraine has asked the International Criminal Court Office of
the Prosecutor to commence investigation and prosecution of the President of Ukraine,
Viktor Yanukovic, for various crimes stemming from the February 2014 sniper incidents
in Kiev that killed almost 100 protestors and police and wounded hundreds more.
Just today, the Russian news media has released a taped telephone conversation intercept
between the EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton and the Estonian foreign affairs
minister, which plainly states that according to first hand knowledge by a reliable
witness, Dr. Olga Bogomolets, the alleged snipers were not Ukrainian police and were
not affiliated with the Yanukovic government but instead were affiliated with one of the
Maidan protest groups. The snipers fired on both protestors and police to deadly effect.
Olga Bogomolets is a doctor who was present during the Maidan protests, according to
her many of the deaths were due to deadly head or neck shots indicative of summary style executions by trained personnel. She spoke to the Estonian Foreign Minister, Mr.
Paet just after the shootings occurred.
Today she has stated a somewhat different version:
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Attorneys & Solicitors
1629 K Street NW Suite 300
Washington DC 20006 USA
Tel/Fax 1-202-318-2406
www.brimstoneandcompany.com
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"Myself I saw only protesters. I do not know the type of wounds suffered by military
people. I have no access to those people."
"No one who just sees the wounds when treating the victims can make a determination
about the type of weapons. I hope international experts and Ukrainian investigators will
make a determination of what type of weapons, who was involved in the killings and how
it was done. I have no data to prove anything.
"I was a doctor helping to save people on the square. There were 15 people killed on the
first day by snipers. They were shot directly to the heart, brain and arteries. There were
more than 40 the next day, 12 of them died in my arms.
"Our nation has to ask the question who was the killers, who asked them to come to
Ukraine. We need good answers on the basis of expertise."
It has been alleged the snipers were affiliated with the Ukrainian paramilitary group
known as Right Sector and were trained in a third country perhaps Poland or Lithuania.
Currently in Kiev the streets are controlled by armed members of Right Sector who are
preventing an objective investigation of the sniper attacks. Right Sector affiliates have
beaten members of the Ukrainian government and made threats of violence. It is
reasonable to suspect that Dr. Bogomolets may be in fear of her life as well.
The International Criminal Court has come under criticism recently for devoting the first
ten years of its existence to prosecuting cases solely from Africa. This is an opportunity
for the court to show the world that it can be a relevant factor outside Africa.
Neither the current putative government of Ukraine nor the ousted elected government
whose leader stands accused of crimes against humanity is in a position to investigate
these allegations. There is also the strong possibly of the involvement of third countries
as the snipers were well armed and trained reportedly in Poland and Lithuania.
Poland and Lithuania are state parties to the Rome Statute while the request for a
prosecution of President Yanukovic by the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada (parliament)
should be sufficient to confer jurisdiction to your office.
It is my sincere hope; the ICC Office of the Prosecutor will take up this case and make it
a top priority by immediately launching an active investigation.
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Attorneys & Solicitors
1629 K Street NW Suite 300
Washington DC 20006 USA
Tel/Fax 1-202-318-2406
www.brimstoneandcompany.com
3 | P a g e
Yours respectfully
Dr. Jonathan Levy, PhD
Legal Representative for UMMOA
International Criminal Bar/ Barreau Pnal
Member No. 100465