Rick Rozoff
rwrozoff@yahoo.com
Chicago
May 3, 2014
Initial report on fate of survivors of massacre in Odessa
I received a phone call from a friend here in the Chicago area, herself a victim of the war in Transdniester in 1992, relating information a friend of hers, a native of Odessa, Ukraine, communicated to her today regarding the fate of survivors of yesterday’s murderous attack on the Trade Unions House in Odessa.
Information communicated by the brother and uncle of the two victims described below by telephone from where he lives, the besieged city of Slovyansk, stated the following:
That his sister, aged 47, was engaged in a demonstration in Odessa against the unelected government in Kiev and its policies, when because of the threat of attacks from Pravy Sektor and other neo-Nazi groups she and fellow demonstrators sought safety in the Trade Unions House. They did not, as some Western officials and media may imply, storm and occupy the building; rather, they were granted refuge there.
The ultra-nationalist, anti-Russian mob responded by surrounding and blockading the multistory building and firing guns and hurling gas bombs at it, eventually setting much of the structure on fire and causing at least forty occupants to be burned to death and die from smoke inhalation, with 200 reported to be taken to the hospital for treatment.
The 47-year-old woman is a childhood friend of the woman in the Chicago area who passed the information on. Her 25-year-old son, who was not involved in the anti-fascist protests, became concerned over the fate of his mother and joined her at the trade union building before it was assaulted.
He succeeded in dragging his mother, rendered unconscious by smoke inhalation, out of the building only to be attacked by several thugs, who beat him savagely with bats and other blunt objects.
According to both local residents who know the family and the relative in Slovyansk, the mother and son, although in desperate need of immediate medical attention, were not taken to a hospital but instead to a detention center, what sounds like a police lock-up, where they have been sequestered incommunicado. It is uncertain how many other victims of the attack have been treated in the same manner and it is uncertain what the ultimate fate of those victims will be. As one of the family members warned, if the victims – not the perpetrators – of yesterday’s barbaric, inhuman actions are sent to the capital of Kiev and treated as terrorists (the term is that of the Western-backed regime in that city) they may never be heard of again.
The family friend in the Chicago area currently hesitates to divulge the name of her friend and the latter’s son for fear of retaliation against them and other family members, but the names can be made available to responsible media and European and international sources, bodies and officials.
Immediate demands are that all people in and near the Trade Unions House on May 2 be accounted for.
That any of the victims currently incarcerated be immediately released and provided protection against further violence.
That all those injured be transferred to the appropriate level of medical care with security protection.
That the city administration of Odessa be held publicly and internationally accountable for all actions – and inaction – leading up to, during and after the crime of May 2, 2014.
That an Organization of Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) monitoring mission be tasked to visit Odessa to investigate the crime and that teams from regional nations, including Russia, be allowed to do so as well.
More to follow.
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