Nozdrovska murder a challenge and test for Ukraine, Klimkin says

The murder of lawyer Iryna Nozdrovska, whose body was
found on Jan. 1 in the outskirts of Kyiv, is “a challenge for the state and a
test for society,” said on Jan. 2 Pavlo Klimkin, Ukraine’s foreign minister.
This test involves protecting female activists, justice and the ability to
ensure it, he said. The same day, the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine expressed its
shock and sadness, and extended its condolences to Nozdrovska’s family,
regarding her murder and called for bringing the perpetrators to justice.

Iryna Nozdrovska had been working to bring to justice
the man responsible for the death of her sister, who was hit by a car and
killed in September 2015. The suspect, who is a nephew of the former head of
the district court, was sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment in May 2017, but
with the possibility of amnesty. Yet the prison sentence was upheld in a Dec.
27 appellate ruling. During that hearing, the killer’s relatives openly
threatened to kill Nozdrovska, reported MP Mustafa Nayyem. She disappeared two
days later and her body was found on Jan. 1. As of this morning, police
released several versions of her murder but had yet to name an official suspect.

Zenon Zawada: Like any
shocking event, Nozdrovska’s murder will become a political subject, especially
ahead of the 2019 presidential and parliamentary elections. Protest leader
Mikheil Saakashvili has already called for protests outside the Kyiv police headquarters,
while presidential favorite Yulia Tymoshenko is certain to take up Nozdrovska’s
cause as a primary campaign theme. This political pressure should prompt the
Poroshenko administration to make the investigation and prosecution of her
murderer a top priority. Otherwise, he could suffer in the elections,
particularly among the female electorate.