The US urges Ukraine to investigate attacks on Roma settlements
The US Embassy in Ukraine has urged Ukrainian law enforcement agencies to investigate recent attacks on Roma, the embassy's message on Twitter said.
"No one in Ukraine should live in fear because of who they are. We urge law enforcement to investigate recent attacks on Roma. Justice and tolerance for minority communities are keys to a new Ukraine," the embassy wrote.
The embassy also published a message from the website of the Ombudsman for Human Rights in Ukraine that mentions attacks on Roma settlements in Lviv and Kyiv.
"According to a report received from public activists, on May 9, 2018, unknown persons burned a camp near the village of Rudno in the Zaliznychnyi district of Lviv, as a result of which Roma property was destroyed, and the residents of the camp were forced to leave the settlement," the statement on the Ombudsman’s website said.
It also mentions the burning of the Roma camp on Lysa Hora in Kyiv by radical-minded individuals.
The incident in the Roma camp on Lysa Hora in Kyiv occurred on April 21. After LB.ua news outlet published a video of the event, the police started criminal proceedings under section 161, “violation of the equality of citizens due to their race, nationality or religion” and Part 2 of section 296, “hooliganism.”
The recordings show how a group of youths, some of whom were wearing balaclavas, ran after the gypsies, threw stones at them and sprayed tear gas.
The international human rights organization Amnesty International has already appealed to the Ukrainian authorities, asking to investigate the situation.