Three years ago, may 24, 2014 Italian journalist and photographer Andrea Rokkelli (Andrea Rocchelli) was killed in Slavyansk, when there was the destruction that occurred during the civil war in the Donbass, in the company of his translator, activist, human rights campaigner Andrei Mironov. The Ukrainian authorities at the end of a long but futile investigation spoke of “side effect” of war — in short, about the accident without disclosing names and causes of the incident. Now, thanks to the actions of the parents of Andrea, Eliza and Reno, thanks to the dedication of their attorney Ballerini Alessandra (Alessandra Ballerini) and the work of the investigators from the task force of the Prosecutor’s office of Milan and Pavia, the investigation was resumed.
“It was an aimed attack,” says Andrea’s mother. She makes this conclusion on the basis of the photos found on the camera, Andrea, those who today publishes Repubblica: Andrea was killed in a grenade explosion at the moment when he was photographed standing on the train tracks, captured the Ukrainian military. The death of Andrea was not an accident. He first appeared in this place. In the previous days, as seen in those pictures he was in the same place and filmed the events. Obviously, someone didn’t like it.
“Andrea told me that the train was needed in order to prevent entry of tanks. Then we saw a man on the street in plain clothes, who told us to go, because there are military. Mironov said, “Okay”, and in single file we went back to the car. It took 5-6 seconds, and we heard scorching us with gunfire. Jumped into a deep ditch, with us left the man in civilian clothes who warned us about the military presence, told William Rohlon (William Roguelon), French photojournalist, who was close to Roselli at the time of the attack and which was saved only by a miracle. From there we tried again to get to the car. When he reached the place where she stood, we waited 2-3 minutes, until the soldiers stop firing. At the time the shots from a grenade launcher. One grenade hit the car, and we realized that they were targeting her. We hid in the ditch, and no one could have seen us. Then we decided to go back to the train. How many times have they fired at us from grenade launcher? Don’t know, I stopped counting when I reached 10. One shot knocked down a tree, another shell fell near me, I was wounded, looked at his feet to realize there is bleeding or not. Fortunately, I was able to move. The third shot hit between the driver, Andrea and Andrew, for both of them it proved fatal.
The driver and a man in civilian clothes stood up and walked to the car. I got up again, walked past the bodies of Andrea and Andrew. Got out of the ditch, walked to the car, which was already half destroyed. While we are still fired. The driver and the second man managed to go by taxi. I failed to get in the car, and I again jumped into the ditch. I picked up the phone, determined my location, sent a message to the other reporter friends. This was the noise: someone else is down in the ditch, the shooting continued. I cried, I was a journalist, then went toward the exit, tried to get around the plant. Here I was faced with a group of about 20 Pro-Russian soldiers that have just come here. They insulted me, demanded that I get out of there. I went forward, hands up, hanging the camera so that it was clearly visible. I walked until a car stopped. I got into it and asked to take me to the hospital, while back in the us continued to shoot.”
These testimonies can now be found in the investigator of the operational group of Milan, under the direction of Colonel Paolo Storoni (Paolo Storoni). He sent the Ukrainian government a requirement to reopen the investigation. “Because of the Ukrainian authorities in the case, applied to the materials of the autopsy of Andrea, talking about “skirmishes between the Ukrainian army and Pro-Russian military caused by the Pro-Russian side. The answer, of course, is completely unsatisfactory,” explains Reno Rochelle (Rino Rocchelli), the father of Andrea.
“The first response of the Ukrainian authorities is just a pathetic excuse, — said the lawyer Alessandra Ballerini, who is also a family affair Regini Giulio (Giulio Regeni). — This behavior is reminiscent of how he behaved Egypt in the investigation of cases of torture and the death of Giulio. Ukraine has sent us useless evidence, the taxi driver is lying, contradicting himself. Now we prepare a new requirement for re-investigation to study the printout of telephone calls, re-conduct ballistic examination and obtain the testimony of other witnesses. The investigation is open, yet it is conducted against unknown persons, but we are getting closer to the truth. This was a premeditated murder: they said they are journalists, which is why they struck. At the moment we know nothing about the diplomatic relations between Italy and Ukraine. At the moment we can’t talk about deliberate counteraction to investigation from the Ukrainian side, but it creates obstacles in exactly the same way as does Egypt.”
With Regeni this case compares even Senator Manconi Luigi (Luigi been booked in Novara), which is monitoring the investigation into the death of Rockelli. “About Andrea saying he had a peculiar rash, imprudent, improvident behavior, he says. — About the same traits say when it comes to Giulio Regeni. However, they were both adults, not children, and they cannot be called reckless. These epithets is an attempt to discredit these people, but they only show the cowardice of those who use them. The words should not stop our quest for truth and justice”.
