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Indybay Feature

Whitewashing Kiev Mass Murder

by Stephen Lendman
Ukraine
Whitewashing Kiev Mass Murder

by Stephen Lendman

Washington ousted Ukraine's democratically elected president. It elevated fascist thugs to power.

They're radicalized ultranationalists. They're overt anti-Semites. They're militant hate-mongers. They have no legitimacy whatever.

They're convenient US stooges. They're puppets. They take orders from Washington.

They masquerade as politicians. They represent mob rule. They make mafia bosses look saintly by comparison.

For the first time since WW II, overt fascists have real power. They hold major government posts.

They represent the epicenter of European fascist reemergence. They usurped power by force. They're waging war on their own people.

Right Sector neo-Nazis attacked Kiev residents and police. They bear full responsibility for Maidan killings.

Clear evidence proves it. Ousted President Viktor Yanukovych had nothing to do with what happened.

Previous articles discussed it. What Kiev won't reveal. What it suppressed. Whitewashed.

Wrongfully blamed on Yanukovych. Shamelessly regurgitated by Western governments and media scoundrels.

Investigations when conducted conceal what's most important to reveal. Regime killings are systematically whitewashed.

On October 10, Reuters headlined "Special Report: Flaws found in Ukraine's probe of Maidan massacre." More on this below.

Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Paet's leaked conversation last April with EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton revealed what happened.

He visited Kiev. He commented on what he learned. It's polar opposite mainstream propaganda. He explained what's vital to know.

Yanukovych was wrongfully blamed, he said. "(T)here is now stronger and stronger understanding that behind the snipers, it was not Yanukovyich, but it was somebody from the new coalition."

"The Russian side is enraged by the militant provocation which is an indication of the reluctance of the authorities in Kiev to bridle and disarm nationalists and extremists."

On March 12, 2014 former Ukrainian Security Service head Aleksandr Yakimenko confirmed Paet's assessment. He blamed putschist official Andrey Parubiy.

He co-led Ukraine's 2004 Orange Revolution. He's a neo-Nazi Svoboda party leader.

He served as National Security and Defense Council secretary. He did so until stepping down in August.

"Shots came from the Philharmonic Hall," said Yakimenko. "Maidan Commandant Parubiy was responsible for this building."

"Snipers and people with automatic weapons were 'working' from this building on February 20. They supported the assault on the Interior Ministry forces on the ground who were already demoralized and had, in fact, fled," he added.

"When the first wave of shootings ended, many have witnessed 20 people leaving the building."

They were carrying military-style bags used for sniper and assault rifles with optical sights.

Many witnesses saw them. Foreign elements may have been involved. Perhaps CIA, US special forces, and secret service operatives.

What happened was well planned in advance. "These were the forces that carried out everything that they were told by their leadership - the United States," Yakimenko stressed.

Maidan leaders practically lived at Washington's embassy, he added. It was coup d'etat headquarters.

As security chief, Parubiy controlled access to weapons used for Maidan killings. He took full advantage.

Reuters investigated what happened. It conducted interviews with prosecutors, defense attorneys, protesters, police officers and legal experts.

It discovered "serious flaws" in Kiev's investigation. In April, three suspects were arrested. Members of an elite Berkut riot police unit.

Including decorated commander Dmytro Sadovnyk. He was wrongfully charged with ordering his men to fire on Maidan protesters.

He and two others were accused of killing 39 Kiev residents. They were framed. So-called evidence against Sadovnyk was fabricated.

Included was a photograph allegedly showing him masked on the day of the killings. Holding a rifle with two hands. His fingers clearly visible.

He doesn't have two hands. An earlier training accident blew off his right hand. A stump replaced it.

His lawyer, Serhiy Vilkov, said "(h)e can't shoot. To blame him for the crime is a political game."

According to Reuters, "probes into the killings have been hindered by missing evidence."

"Many guns allegedly used to shoot protesters have vanished; many of the bullets fired were taken home as souvenirs."

"Barricades, bullet-pierced trees and other items of forensic evidence were removed, lawyers say."

So-called investigations "are testing Ukraine's ability to rise above the kinds of failings that have hobbled the country" since its 1991 independence.

"(E)ndemic problems" persist. Including radicalized governance, indifference to rule of law principles, state-sponsored violence, "political corruption, racketeering, a divide between" Ukrainian and Russian language speakers and "a broken justice system."

"The two prosecutors and a government minister who have led the Maidan shooting probes all played roles in supporting the uprising," said Reuters.

"To date," Maidan killers haven't been apprehended. Justice remains denied.

Prosecutors wrongfully declared three Berkut officers guilty by accusation. Ukraine is party to the European Convention on Human Rights.

Its principles are clear and unequivocal. Defendants are presumed innocent unless proved otherwise beyond a shadow of a doubt. According to international criminal law attorney Richard Harvey:

"A public statement by a prosecutor that directly challenges that presumption is a denial of due process."

Kiev fabricated evidence. It did so to blame innocent victims for its crimes. They had nothing to do with what happened. Nor Yanukovych.

Ukraine's "general prosecutor's office declined to discuss" evidence proving it. Innocent victims remain jailed.

No trial date was set, said Reuters.  "All three men face life imprisonment." For killings they didn't commit.

A previous article discussed Ukraine's whitewashed Odessa massacre report. What happened revealed fascism's dark side.

Kiev bore full responsibility. Premeditated mass murder was committed as planned. Coverup and denial suppressed it.

Verifiable evidence proved otherwise. Neo-Nazi Right Sector thugs set Odessa's Trade Union House (TUH) ablaze.

People were trapped inside. Dozens were massacred. Scores more were injured. Many were missing.

They were either dead or in neo-Nazi hands. Early reports way underestimated what happened. It was multiples worse than reported.

Neo-Nazis isolated Odessans inside the TUH. A largely unwitnessed massacre followed.

Setting the building ablaze was strategy. It was done to conceal mass murder. Ordinary Ukrainians were slaughtered in cold blood.

Nearby tents were set on fire. Doing so preceded what followed. Right Sector thugs positioned themselves inside the TUH. They were there in advance.

They were armed and dangerous. Police did nothing to intervene. They conspired with fascist killers. So did Odessan firefighters.

They only appeared when TUH's entrance doors burned through. Its building was five stories. From outside, fire was only visible in a single room.

Bodies were shown on upper floors untouched by fire. How did they get there? Who bore responsibility?

They were murdered in advance. Things were staged. They were made to seem like fire consumed them.

Corpses were dragged from where they died. People perished inside from gunshot wounds, strangling and beatings.

Some were thrown from windows. They didn’t jump. It bears repeating. Setting TUH ablaze masked what happened. Fire didn’t kill activists inside. Neo-Nazi hoodlums did.

Some corpses had burnt heads and shoulders only. Clothes they wore showed no signs of fire.

Someone doused their shoulders and heads with "flammable stuff." Hands and wrists were burned to the bone.

Photos showed strange whitewash floor markings. It was powder from extinguishers.

Right Sector thugs used it on people they killed. They did so to protect themselves from fire and carbon monoxide poisoning.

Hardwood floors showed no signs of fire damage. Victims were murdered other ways.

Photographic evidence was damning. So were independent videos. They showed mass murder by means other than fire and/or carbon monoxide poisoning.

Some bodies had multiple gun shot wounds to the head. They were executed in cold blood at point blank range.

A pregnant woman was strangled with an electric wire. Hundreds were killed. As many as 300 or more.

Most were hacked to death with axes or clubbed to death with bats. Some were shot. Others were thrown from windows.

Fascists operate this way. Ukraine is a hotbed of extremism. No-holds-barred barbarism reflects official policy.

Washington manipulates things covertly. Coup-appointed putschists are convenient stooges.

They committed gruesome atrocities. They murdered hundreds of Odessans in cold blood.

Western leaders buried truth. So did MSM scoundrels. Whitewash substituted for truth and full disclosure. Justice remains denied.

Kiev declared war on its own people. It massacred thousands in cold blood. It continues doing it despite Minsk protocol ceasefire terms.

Its high crimes against peace go unpunished. On October 13, RT International headlined "Five Ukraine war tragedies: Questions unanswered, investigations drawn out," saying:

"Human rights groups…call(ed) for Kiev to conduct forensic analyses of corpses from mass graves uncovered in E. Ukraine to learn what happened to them."

"But like four other tragedies, scant progress has been made in bringing the truth to light." Coverup and denial persist.

According to OSCE spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic:

"We are aware of the reports about anonymous burials in Donbass, in particular as reported by the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission."

"Clearly there needs to be an independent investigation in line with international standards which should include forensic examination."

"It is too early for us to speculate on exactly what has happened here or on who is responsible."

Kiev stonewalls investigatory efforts. Self-defense forces discovered mass graves.

They responded to information provided by area residents. They said Ukrainian forces dug them to conceal mass murders. To cover up their high crimes.

Victims were killed execution-style. Bodies were discovered about 35 kilometers northeast of Donetsk.

Four sites were found so far. In areas Kiev forces and extremist  National Guard Aidar battalion elements control.

Total body counts are yet to be determined. New sites may be found. Sergey Lavrov believes hundreds were buried secretly. Maybe more than he imagines.

Russia's Investigative Committee head Vladimir Markin was clear and unequivocal saying:

"For those who have doubts regarding who's responsible for these murders, the Investigative Committee has irrefutable evidence - witness accounts and appropriate examinations - that directly indicates that this crime was committed by fighters from the National Guard and Right Sector."

Mass graves "are further eloquent testimony to the atrocities of the Ukrainian nationalists," he added.

"(A)ll of the victims were tortured before their murder." Months after mass killings were committed, guilty parties remain free uncharged.

September 5 Minsk protocol ceasefire terms are illusory. Kiev's war on its own people persists.

Self-defense freedom fighters are wrongfully blamed for its crimes. Justice remains denied.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen [at] sbcglobal.net.

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.

Listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network.

It airs three times weekly: live on Sundays at 1PM Central time plus two prerecorded archived programs.
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