Two men charged with Dnipropetrovsk bombings on hunger strike

 The Dnipropetrovsk Regional Prosecutor’s Office reports that two of the men arrested on suspicion of organizing the bombings in Dnipropetrovsk in April have gone on hunger strike.  It said that it had received no formal statement from a third suspect whose hunger strike had been reported by the Dnipropetrovsk regional branch of the VO Svoboda Party.

The Prosecutor’s Office says that Lev Prosvinin began his hunger strike in protest at a film about the bombings shown on Ukrainian television. Viktor Sukachov began his hunger strike on 16 October. 

Four explosions in Dnipropetrovsk on 27 April 2012 coincided with major national and international coverage of Yulia Tymoshenko’s allegations that she had been mistreated by prison staff.  The explosions did not kill anybody, but 31 people were injured.

On 31 May, shortly before the beginning of Euro 2012 which Ukraine was co-host of, it was announced that 2 suspects had been arrested for allegedly demanding four and a half million dollars or else they would continue to plant bombs.  On 1 June it was announced that 4 people had been arrested.  All are in custody.  Viktor Sukachev is a Senior Professor of Political Science at the Dnipropetrovsk National Universiity and Vitaly Fedoriak is an Assistant Professor.

The SBU also suspects them of involvement in explosions in Kharkiv, Zaporizhya and Dnipropetrovsk in 2011.

From a report by Interfax Ukraine