Role Political activist Name Oleksandr Muzychko | Occupation Political activist Other names Sashko Bilyi | |
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Died March 24, 2014, Rivne, Ukraine | ||
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Oleksandr Ivanovych Muzychko (Ukrainian: Олександр Іванович Музичко, 19 September 1962 – 24 March 2014), nicknamed Sashko Bilyi (Сашко Білий), was a Ukrainian political activist, a member of UNA-UNSO and coordinator of Right Sector in Western Ukraine. Russian prosecutors accused him of killing "at least 20" captive Russian soldiers during the First Chechen War. The inquiry by the Russian Investigative Committee began in March 2014, years after the alleged killings.
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Muzychko had vowed to fight "communists, Jews and Russians for as long as blood flows in my veins".
Biography
Muzychko was born near Ural Mountains to a Ukrainian father and a Belarusian mother, both deported members of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army.
During the First Chechen War he led the UNA-UNSO "Viking" group. In 1995 Muzychko was convicted of causing grievous bodily harm to an individual. In 1997 he was accused of attempting to kill a member of UNA-UNSO in Kiev. In 2003 Muzychko was sentenced to 3.5 years in prison for racketeering and kidnapping. In 2009 he was accused in a hostile corporate raid. In 2012 he ran for the national parliament in the 153rd electoral district (Rivne) coming sixth.
On 27 February 2014, Muzychko attacked the Prosecutor of the Rivne Oblast in his office and threatened to "slay as a dog" the Minister of Internal Affairs Arsen Avakov. On 28 February 2014, criminal proceedings were opened against him.
On 7 March 2014, ITAR-TASS reported that he was wanted by Russian authorities for war atrocities. On 11 March 2014, Russian State Duma opposition leader Valery Rashkin urged Russian special services to "follow Mossad examples" and assassinate Right Sector leaders Dmytro Yarosh and Muzychko.
Death
On 24 March 2014 Oleksandr Muzychko was shot dead. There are conflicting stories about how this happened. An official inquiry concluded he had shot himself in the heart for three times at the end of a chase.
According to Ukrainian MP Oles Doniy, a group of unknown armed people arrived on three Volkswagen minivans and kidnapped Muzychko and five other people from a cafe near Rivne. They murdered Muzychko behind the cafe by two gunshots to the heart. In another telling of Doniy's account, a group of attackers forced Muzychko to stop his car, pulled him from it, handcuffed him and shot him.
According to the interior ministry of Ukraine, Muzychko died in a shoot-out with police in a cafe in Rivne. According to the ministry, the police raided the cafe to arrest Muzychko, but he opened fire while he tried to flee. He was shot when the police returned fire. The police were able to capture him and three others, but by the time the paramedics had arrived at the scene, he had died.
On 25 March, police stated that Muzychko had shot himself. This was confirmed by an inquiry by the interior ministry, who concluded he had shot himself in the heart as police tried to bring him to the ground after a chase. The inquiry also concluded he had fired previously, resulting in a scratch on his skin, and that the police had acted lawfully.
Reacting to news of the shooting, Dmytro Yarosh, leader of Right Sector, called for the resignation of Interior Minister Arsen Avakov and the arrest of the police who had come for Muzychko.
Legacy
In Konotop a street was named after Oleksandr Muzychko.