Oles Buzina

Oles Buzina
Born (1969-07-13)13 July 1969
Kiev, Ukrainian SSR, USSR
Died 16 April 2015(2015-04-16) (aged 45)
Kiev, Ukraine
Citizenship  Ukraine
Occupation journalist, writer, politician
Website www.buzina.org

Oles Buzina (Ukrainian: Оле́сь Олексі́йович Бузина́; 13 July 1969,[1] Kiev, Ukrainian SSR – 16 April 2015, Kiev, Ukraine) was a controversial Ukrainian journalist and writer known for his strong pro-Russian views.[2][3][4] He was affiliated with the Russian Bloc party but had been unsuccessful in seeking office.

He was murdered on 16 April 2015, shot on the footpath not far from his flat in Kiev. In June Ukrainian authorities arrested three suspects believed to be behind the murder.[5] The main suspect responsible for the murder was described as a Ukrainian nationalist by the Ukrainian Minister of Interior.[6]

Biography

Oles Buzina was born on 13 July 1969 in Kiev and attended local schools. In 1992 he graduated from the Faculty of Philology Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv specialising as a teacher of Russian language and literature.[1] He began a career in journalism[1] working for a number of Ukrainian media outlets:[7][8]

He was invited as a guest to numerous talk shows in Russia. Some of his articles were published in the Russian media.

As a writer he published eight books, mainly about prominent figures and the history of Ukraine and Russia.

Personal life

Buzina was married and the father of one daughter.

Politics

In addition to his reporting, Buzina tried to enter politics. He ran in the 2012 Ukrainian parliamentary election for a constituency seat in Kiev for Russian Bloc[12] but failed to win parliamentary representation.[13] In Constituency No. 223, his 8.22% of votes was insufficient.[12]

Political and public views

Oles Buzina held anti-Orange Revolution,[14][15] and anti-Euromaidan views.[16]

On 20 January 2006 he claimed that as a writer he was aware of political censorship in post-Orange Revolution Ukraine, as some publishers were afraid to release his books.[14]

In May 2009 he campaigned for adoption of a series of laws prohibiting Neo-Nazi organizations, propaganda of Nazism and ideological legacy of Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists as a totalitarian fascist party.[17] This initiative was supported by Borys Kolesnikov, one of the leaders of Party of Regions.

In May 2009 National Expert Commission of Ukraine on the Protection of Public Morality launched an investigation against Oles Buzina as a result of complaint filed by Petro Kononenko, director of Institute of Ukrainology. Kononenko stated that Oles Buzina "discredited most outstanding Ukrainian public figures and picks everything that's shameful in our history".[18]

As of April 2009 Buzina was sued 11 times and every single time judges ruled out in his favour.[19] In 2000 he was physically assaulted right after winning in court one of these cases.[7] Some of these legal actions saw Ukrainian politicians as plaintiffs: Pavlo Movchan, Volodymyr Yavorivsky.[14]

On 22 March 2009 a FEMEN activist threw a cake at Oles Buzina, protesting his book in which he defended men's rights.

On 22 March 2009 he had a cake thrown at him by a FEMEN activist who declared his only fiction book sexist. Oles Buzina was rated 4th in the "Homophobe of the Year - 2011" list by the Ukrainian gay forum.[20]

He identified himself as both Ukrainian and Russian, though having ethnic Ukrainian parents.[19]

His views on Ukraine expressed on multiple occasions during years of journalism and political commentary included statements that Ukraine should be an independent state, not part of Russia,[19] that it should be a bilingual federation[19][21] and that it should favour an alliance of Ukraine, Belarus, Russia and Kazakhstan rather than joining the European Union.[14][22]

His political stance was criticized[23] for a comment to newspaper Den that he gave in 1999:

...my ideal is the reconstruction of the Russian Empire, but I am forced to adapt to the ugly conditions of "construction" of an independent Ukraine.
— When wouldn't you shake a man's hand?, Day.kiev.ua [24]

He stated that the quote was a fabrication.[25]

Murder

Oles Buzina was found murdered on 16 April near his home. Previously, he said on a Russian TV show that he was receiving constant death threats.[26][27] A previously unknown Ukrainian nationalist group calling itself "Ukrainian Insurgent Army" was reported to claim responsibility for the murders of Buzina and other pro-Russian figures.[28][29][30][31] However, Markian Lubkivskyi, an advisor at the Security Service of Ukraine, said that linguistic analysis of the telephone call indicated they were not native Ukrainian speakers, and head of the Main Investigations Directorate of the Security Service of Ukraine Vasyl Vovk said the organization was fake.[32]

Reactions

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on live Russian TV that this murder was a political one and offered his condolences to the family of the victim.[33] Radio Free Europe reported that "At 2:05, Ukrainian presidential adviser Anton Herashchenko confirmed the slaying on Facebook. And by 2:17, Russian President Vladimir Putin was already using Buzina's killing to attack Ukraine's "democratic" values during his annual call-in show with the Russian public."[34] The German newspaper "Die Zeit" reported that the murder of opposition activist Buzina followed a string of murders and deaths of five public figures that were pro-Russian and supportive of the former president of Ukraine.[35] Ukrainian officials blamed "Russian special forces assassins" for the murder.[36] United Nations Human Rights Commission representative Seid Raad al-Hussein described this murder and others as disturbing and demanded quick and decisive investigation.[37]

EU, Germany,[38] United States, UNESCO,[39] OSCE,[40] Amnesty International[41] have demanded an independent investigation of the murder of Ukrainian journalists Oles Buzina and Sergey Sukhobok and politician Oleg Kalashnikov.

On 18 June 2015 Arsen Avakov announced arrest of two alleged killers, Andrey Medvedko and Denis Polischuk.[42][43][44] One of the suspects served in the Kyiv-2 Battalion of the Interior Ministry of Ukraine and was "С14" оrganisation activist,[45] while the other was platoon officer in the UNSO Battalion; both deny responsibility for the murder.[46][47]

Publications

References

  1. 1 2 3 Бузина Олесь Алексеевич [Oles Alekseevich Buzina] (in Russian). liga.net. 16 April 2015. Retrieved 20 June 2015.
  2. ↑ "Pro-Russian Figures Killed In Ukraine". RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty. Retrieved 17 April 2015.
  3. ↑ Natalia Zinets; Pavel Polityuk (16 April 2016). "Murders of pro-Russian lobbyists increase tension in Ukraine standoff". Reuters. Retrieved 30 June 2015.
  4. ↑ "Prominent pro-Russian Ukrainian journalist killed in Kiev". France24 International News. 16 April 2015. Retrieved 30 June 2015.
  5. ↑ Lilia Hryshko (18 June 2015). Затримання у справі про вбивство Бузини: запитання залишаються [The detention for the murder of Buzyna: questions that remain] (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 30 August 2015.
  6. ↑ ""Jest nacjonalistą, ma mamę, tatę, przyjaciół". Podejrzany o zabójstwo dziennikarza" ["He's a nationalist with a mother, father, friends." The suspect for the murder of a journalist]. Tvn24.pl (in Polish). 18 June 2015. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
  7. 1 2 "About the author (in Russian)". buzina.org. 2012. Retrieved 19 April 2015.
  8. ↑ "Oles Buzina was killed: Biography of the journalist (in Russian)". 112.ua. 16 April 2015. Archived from the original on 2015-04-16. Retrieved 19 April 2015.
  9. ↑ "In the footsteps of ancestors with Oles Buzina (in Russian)". buzina.org. 2012.
  10. ↑ "Oles Buzina was appointed as editor-in-chief (in Ukrainian)". Segodnya. 13 January 2015. Retrieved 19 April 2015.
  11. ↑ "Yes, I resigned and I don't regret that (in Russian)". buzina.org. 10 March 2015. Retrieved 19 April 2015.
  12. 1 2 Політичні партії України: "Руський блок": Кандидати від партії на мажоритарних округах [Ukraine's Political Parties: "Rus'ian bloc": Candidates from the party in majority constituencies] (in Ukrainian). RBC Ukraine. Retrieved 20 June 2015.
  13. ↑ (Ukrainian) Proportional votes & Constituency seats, Central Election Commission of Ukraine
  14. 1 2 3 4 "Oles Buzina: A human is an easy-to-kill being (in Russian)". from-ua.com. 16 March 2015. Retrieved 19 April 2015.
  15. ↑ "This "Maidan" is more civilized than the Orange one. (in Russian)". www.buzina.org. 9 April 2007. Retrieved 19 April 2015.
  16. ↑ "Instead of golden bread loaf (in Russian)". www.buzina.org. 2 February 2015. Retrieved 19 April 2015.
  17. ↑ "Oles Buzina wants to jail Nazis (in Russian)". Segodnya. 28 April 2009. Retrieved 19 April 2015. Oles Busina:Nazis and extremists have to be in jail instead of torching stores.
  18. ↑ "Commission on morality launches ideological censorship (in Russian)". Kiev center of political research and conflictology. 12 June 2009. Retrieved 19 April 2015.
  19. 1 2 3 4 О.Бузина: «Если Богу будет угодно, то без крови разбежимся. Если нет - будем жить дальше в коммунальной квартире» [O.Buzina: "If it pleases God, we'll part ways without bloodshed. If not - we will continue to live in a communal apartment"]. from-ua.com (in Russian). 19 April 2015. Retrieved 19 April 2015.
  20. ↑ Главными врагами геев названы писатель Бузина и депутат Григорович, главным другом [Buzina named among the main enemies of gays, and deputy Grigorovich named among the primarily friends of gays by the GFU] (in Russian). v-n-zb.livejournal.com. 24 May 2011. Retrieved 20 June 2015.
  21. ↑ "Stories from Oles Buzina: Taras Shevchenko - model bilingual. (in Russian)". Segodnya. 8 October 2010. Retrieved 19 April 2015.
  22. ↑ "Modernization through integration. (in Russian)". www.buzina.org. 17 February 2014. Retrieved 19 April 2015.
  23. ↑ Олесь Бузина: между провокатором и политической жертвой [Oles Buzina: between being a provocateur and a political victim] (in Russian). BBC. 17 April 2015. Retrieved 19 April 2015.
  24. ↑ Есть ли ситуации, в которых вы бы не подали человеку руки? [Are there situations in which you would not have offered a man your hand?] (in Russian). Day.kiev.ua. 3 March 1999. Retrieved 20 April 2015.
  25. ↑ "Last interview of Oles Buzina (in Russian)". Vesti Ukraine. 16 April 2015. Retrieved 20 April 2015.
  26. ↑ "Duel talk show, live air from 30/01/2014 recording. (in Russian)". RUSSIA 1 TV channel. 30 January 2014. Retrieved 22 April 2015.
  27. ↑ "VPE. Oles Buzina predicting his own murder. English subtitles". YOUTUBE. 18 April 2015. Retrieved 20 April 2015.
  28. ↑ "Nationalist groups claims responsibility for Ukraine killings". Euronews. 18 April 2015. Retrieved 18 April 2015.
  29. ↑ "Ukraine: Wer hat Buzina und Kalaschnikow ermordet?" [Who murdered Buzina and Kalashnikov?] (in German). Zeit.de. 23 April 2015. Retrieved 20 June 2015.
  30. ↑ Nina Jeglinski (17 April 2015). "Drei Morde in fünf Tagen: Ukrainische Nationalisten bekennen sich zu Anschlägen" [Three murders in five days: Ukrainian nationalists committed to attacks]. tagesspiegel.de (in German). Retrieved 20 June 2015.
  31. ↑ "Ukrainische Nationalisten bekennen sich zu politischen Morden in Kiew" [Ukrainian nationalists committed to political murders in Kiev]. SZ-Online (in German). 17 April 2015. Retrieved 20 June 2015.
  32. ↑ Письмо об убийствах Бузины и Калашникова составили не украиноязычные - СБУ. Ukrainskaya Pravda (in Russian). 17 April 2015.
  33. ↑ Natalia Zinets; Pavel Polityuk (16 April 2015). "Murders of pro-Russian lobbyists increase tension in Ukraine standoff". Reuters. Retrieved 20 June 2015.
  34. ↑ Daisy Sindelar (17 April 2015). "Kyiv Alleges Journalist's Slaying Not Only Ordered, But Timed To The Minute". Radio Free Europe.
  35. ↑ "Prorussischer Journalist in Kiew getötet" [Pro-Russian journalist killed in Kiev]. ZEIT ONLINE (in German). 16 April 2015. Retrieved 20 June 2015.
  36. ↑ Natalia Zinets; Pavel Polityuk (16 April 2015). "Murders of pro-Russian lobbyists increase tension in Ukraine standoff". Reuters. Retrieved 20 June 2015.
  37. ↑ "Ukraine: Nationalisten bekennen sich zu politischen Morden in Kiew" [Ukrainian nationalists committed to political murders in Kiev]. ZEIT ONLINE (in German). 17 April 2015. Retrieved 20 June 2015.
  38. ↑ "German government expects immediate investigation of journalist Oles Buzina's murder". TASS. 17 April 2015. Retrieved 20 April 2015.
  39. ↑ "Director-General condemns killing of Ukrainian journalist Oles Buzina in Kiev". UNESCO. 17 April 2015. Retrieved 20 April 2015.
  40. ↑ "OSCE Representative, Dunja Mijatović, strongly condemns killing of journalist in Ukraine". Council of Europe. 16 April 2015. Retrieved 20 April 2015.
  41. ↑ "Ukraine's spate of suspicious deaths must be followed by credible investigations". Amnesty International. 17 April 2015. Retrieved 20 April 2015.
  42. ↑ "Polischuk accused of journalist Buzyna's murder, detained for two months". Unian. 18 June 2015. Retrieved 20 June 2015.
  43. ↑ "Ukraine Detains Suspects In Journalist Buzyna's Killing". www.rferl.org. 18 June 2015. Retrieved 20 June 2015.
  44. ↑ "Another suspect in Ukrainian journalist Buzyna's murder remanded into custody". Interfax. 19 June 2015. Retrieved 20 June 2015.
  45. ↑ Націоналісти при справі. Що відомо про можливих убивць Бузини [Nationalists in the case. What is known about the possible killers of Buzina]. korrespondent.net (in Ukrainian). 18 June 2015. Retrieved 30 November 2015.
  46. ↑ "Polischuk accused of journalist Buzyna's murder, detained for two months". Unian. 18 June 2015. Retrieved 30 June 2015.
  47. ↑ "Another suspect in Ukrainian journalist Buzyna's murder remanded into custody". Interfax.com.ua. 19 June 2015. Retrieved 30 June 2015.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 8/12/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.