Ukraine appeals against Markiv's sentence in Italy - UNIAN

Ukraine has filed an appeal against the verdict against Ukrainian guardsman Vitaliy Markiv, jailed in Italy for 24 years on charges of killing an Italian photo reporter amid hostilities in eastern Ukraine in 2014. "Ukraine is deeply disappointed at the verdict of the court of the city of Pavia, which strikes with injustice and violation of the basic legal principles, under which Vitaliy Markiv was tried," the Office of the President of Ukraine wrote on Facebook. It is noted the appeal against the verdict was filed on November 20,as UNIAN reported.

The President's Office also says a civil lawsuit against Ukraine in the Italian national court is a violation of international law, in particular jurisdictional immunities of the state, "based on the sovereignty and equality of the states."

"The state of Ukraine expresses its readiness to use all legal means to ensure justice for Vitaliy Markiv and hopes the Italian Republic will remain firm in observing the rule of law," reads the report. As UNIAN reported earlier, despite the presence of convincing evidence that Markiv could not have been involved in the mortar shelling, which is believed to have killed an Italian freelance photo reporter, Andrea Rocchelli, and his Russian interpreter Andrei Mironov in Donetsk region in May 2014, the jury in the court of Italy's Pavia on July 12, 2019, sentenced the Ukrainian guardsman to 24 years in prison. A decision to appeal the verdict could be taken next year, according to his lawyer Raffaele Della Valle. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addressed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Prosecutor General's Office to immediately address the issue of Markiv's return to Ukraine. On October 10, the court made public the motivational part of the verdict.

UNIAN