Russia Caucasus Ukraine

Judge Azarov?

Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Füle and Ukrainian Prime Minister Azarov a year ago (credit: European Commission)
Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Füle and Ukrainian Prime Minister Azarov a year ago (credit: European Commission)

(BRUSSELS2) As soon as his resignation was approved on Tuesday, the former Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov took refuge with his son (Oleksiy of his first name) in Vienna if we are to believe the Austrian daily Kronen Zeitung.

Azarov is not a gentle peaceful lamb. At least if we are to believe the opposition, which holds him partly responsible for the bloody repression of opponents on Maidan Square in Kiev, and in particular the bullets that fatally hit several demonstrators. If this information turns out to be correct, it would merit an in-depth analysis, an investigation, into the chain of custody.

If the Europeans want to do little more than a few words and visits of sympathy to Ukrainian opponents, they should, at the very least, initiate an investigation. I will not follow the idea of ​​Mirosław Czech from the Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza (quoted by Eurotopics) who demands that he be extradited to Ukraine.

It is important that the Europeans take up the subject themselves and question the Ukrainian politician directly. And if facts must be reproached to him, he must be able to be judged. There can be no question of tolerating that the European Union serves as a haven for political leaders whose behavior has not been fully democratic

Nicolas Gros Verheyde

Chief editor of the B2 site. Graduated in European law from the University of Paris I Pantheon Sorbonne and listener to the 65th session of the IHEDN (Institut des Hautes Etudes de la Défense Nationale. Journalist since 1989, founded B2 - Bruxelles2 in 2008. EU/NATO correspondent in Brussels for Sud-Ouest (previously West-France and France-Soir).

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