"My son may have been an accomplice, but he wouldn't kill" – mother of suspect in murder of former Ukrainian MP Iryna Farion

The mother of 18-year-old Viacheslav Zinchenko, who is suspected of murdering Iryna Farion, a linguist and professor at Lviv Polytechnic National University, believes that her son could not have killed the former Ukrainian MP and that "he had no motives and no shooting experience".

Source: Olena Zinchenko in a comment to Slidstvo.info

Quote from Olena Zinchenko: "Slava [a short form of Viacheslav - ed.] likes to walk around the city; he can attract attention, and he has always done that, but he could never kill. Knowing my son, I'm sure he didn't do it. The guy in the police video is sitting, watching or walking the streets – the cameras recorded this. But there is no footage of the moment of the shot. Perhaps my son was an accomplice or someone to attract attention, but I don't believe he committed the murder."

Details: Olena Zinchenko said she had not noticed anything suspicious about Viacheslav's behaviour in recent weeks, and he had no motive for the murder.

She believes that the man wearing glasses in the police photo has tanned skin and a slimmer build, unlike her son. 

Olena Zinchenko says Viacheslav was in Lviv for a long period last spring. He was studying at the Dronarium Academy to become a UAV operator, so "he knows the city well and how many surveillance cameras there are".

When he was leaving for Lviv again, Viacheslav told his mother that he was going to Ternopil and had not seen his father for a long time because he was at the front.

Background: 

• On 26 July, representatives of Ukraine’s Ministry of Internal Affairs, the police, the Office of the Prosecutor General, and the Security Service of Ukraine held a joint briefing in Lviv regarding the investigation into Iryna Farion's murder.
• The investigation suggests that Farion was shot with a modified pistol from a distance of 1.5-2 metres; a sport cartridge case was discovered at the scene.
• Law enforcement agencies are investigating the suspect’s ties to a neo-Nazi movement, and the investigation has not ruled out a personal grudge. Maksym Buzhansky, an MP from the Servant of the People party, was also listed as a potential victim by the suspect.
• According to Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko, the 18-year-old suspect is a resident of Dnipro. He rented at least three apartments in Lviv while preparing for Farion’s assassination. Investigators currently believe that the shooter was only a hitman.
• On 26 July, the court arrested 18-year-old Viacheslav Zinchenko without bail.
• Zinchenko told reporters in the courtroom after his pre-trial restriction was chosen that he did not kill Iryna Farion and that he has a negative attitude towards Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin.

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