The head of the National Police, Ivan Vyhovskyy, provided details about the arrest of a suspect in the murder of MP and public figure, former Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada Andriy Parubiy. According to law enforcement officials, the man had been preparing for a long time and had been following the politician.
Vyhovskyy believes that there is a “Russian trace” in the crime. He added that the necessary evidence against the detainee had been gathered.
“On 30 August, in the Sykhiv district of Lviv, he disguised himself as a courier and opened fire on the politician in broad daylight. Eight shots. Cold-blooded cruelty. He even made sure that the victim was dead. And then he tried to cover his tracks – he changed his clothes, got rid of the weapon, and tried to hide in the Khmelnytskyy Region,” said the head of the NPU.
The suspect was apprehended 36 hours after the murder.
Update. According to the Lviv Regional Prosecutor's Office, the detainee is 52 years old. He has already been charged under Part 1 of Article 115 (intentional murder) and Part 1 of Article 263 (illegal handling of weapons).
"The charges are based on objective evidence indicating that the detainee committed the murder of a member of parliament," said the head of the Lviv Regional Prosecutor's Office.
The prosecution will request that he be held in custody without the possibility of bail.
The murder of Andriy Parubiy
On 30 August, around noon, in the Frankivsk district of Lviv, an unknown assailant shot Andriy Parubiy several times in the back. Parubiy was a four-term member of parliament, former Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, participant in the Orange Revolution and Revolution of Dignity, and a staunch defender of the Ukrainian language and statehood. Parubiy died at the scene before the arrival of medical personnel. The killer fled.
A special operation was declared in the Lviv Region. The attacker was apprehended 30 hours later. Last night, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that the suspect had been tracked down and detained.
The funeral for Parubiy will take place on 2 September in Lviv. A memorial evening will be held in Kyiv on 1 September.