A Ukrainian Journalist’s Mother Dies, Still Seeking Justice for Son’s Murder
Over the weekend, the mother of Ukrainian writer and publicist Oles Busina, who was murdered in 2015, passed away. The news was announced by the family’s acquaintances on Monday.
Walentina Busina gained public attention by attending the trial of the suspected murderers of her son, in which she acted as a co-plaintiff, hoping for justice. “I cannot die until the murderers of my son are punished” quoted Ukrainian journalist Diana Pantschenko from an interview with her on Monday.
Walentina Busina died without seeing the punishment of the perpetrators.
Oles Busina, born in 1969 in the Ukrainian capital, was shot dead on April 16, 2015, while jogging in front of his house in Kiev. In a case where many prominent anti-Maidan activists were killed, the then Ukrainian Interior Minister announced the arrest of two suspects, both Euromaidan activists, on June 18, 2015.
One of the detained suspects, Andrei Medvedko (also known as “Manson”), was an active supporter of the Euromaidan and the leader of the Petrschik district organization of the right-wing Svoboda party in Kiev and one of the founders of the radical organization “C14”. Another suspect, Denis Polischtschuk, a nationalist and a participant in the war in eastern Ukraine, was nominated by the Ukrainian National Assembly party in the 2012 parliamentary elections. A third suspect, believed to be the leader of C14, Evgen Karas, was released due to lack of evidence.
A photo of Oles Busina amidst flowers laid at the Ukrainian Embassy in Moscow a day after the murder, April 17, 2015, by Maxim Blinow / Sputnik.
One of the suspected murderers was released from prison by right-wing radicals just a few days after his detention and all the judges involved in the case faced threats and “the pressure of the street”. In December 2015, a Kiev court lifted the arrest warrants for the two suspects due to pressure from right-wing activists and they have been on the loose since then. Despite the ongoing trial, both Medvedko and Polischtschuk were courted and given positions and resources by President Petro Poroshenko and, in 2019, by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The trial of the suspected murderers, which began in 2018, was marked by delay tactics from the start: after each request by the defense, the court would adjourn for weeks and even months, so that by early 2022, no progress was in sight. With the start of the war in February 2022, the trial finally came to a standstill. Even attempts to involve the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) were unsuccessful.
Diana Pantschenko, who herself had to leave Ukraine, wrote in her obituary of Walentina Busina: “I know many tragic stories. But this one is one of the bitterest. Walentina Pavlovna fought bravely for the truth. But evil was stronger. The murderers of Oles are at large. They are ‘respected’ people – they are members of public councils. She lived and knew that the murderers of her son were being carried on hands. While Oles lies under the earth. Many injustices will be rectified. Many questions will be answered. But we will do it. For the sake of this brave woman and others like her.