Ukrainian Guardsman Markiv arrives in Kyiv

Ukrainian Guardsman Vitaliy Markiv has arrived in Kyiv after an Italian court of appeals ruled to release him on November 3.

Vitaliy Markiv case: background

Deputy platoon commander of the Ukrainian National Guard's first battalion, senior sergeant Vitaliy Markiv was detained in Italy on June 30, 2017, on suspicion of the murder of Italian journalist Andrea Rocchelli and his Russian interpreter Andrei Mironov amid a mortar attack in Donetsk region in May 2014.

According to the Ukrainian investigation, the two were killed in shelling by Russian-led troops.

Ukrainian National Guard officials insisted that the Ukrainian battalion was not armed with mortars in 2014.

The jury in the court of Italy's Pavia on July 12, 2019, sentenced the Ukrainian guardsman to 24 years in prison. He is also to pay compensation to Rocchelli's family.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky ordered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Prosecutor General's Office to immediately address the issue of Markiv's return to Ukraine.

On November 20, Ukraine filed an appeal against Markiv's verdict.

It had to be considered by a Lombardy appellate court in the spring of 2020. On March 10, 2020, an Italian appellate court in Milan postponed a hearing in the case of Ukrainian national Vitaliy Markiv over the coronavirus pandemic.

On July 3, 2020, President Zelensky during his phone talks with Italian PM Giuseppe Conte said he hoped for a fair ruling in Markiv's case and his return home as soon as possible.

The defense team in their appeal asked the court to fully acquit Markiv.