Police close case against Ivano-Frankivsk mayor who wanted to forcibly deport Roma to Zakarpattia

The police have closed the case against Ivano-Frankivsk mayor Ruslan Martsynkiv, who called for the forcible deportation of Roma to Zakarpattia.

The head of the National Police, Ivan Vyhivskyi, stated this in an interview with the Ukrainian News agency.

He recalled that in 2020, criminal proceedings were opened under Article 161 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

As part of the investigation, a linguistic semantic and textual examination was conducted, which established that his statements did not incite national enmity and hatred that humiliate human dignity.

"Therefore, the case was closed due to the absence of elements of a crime," Vyhivskyi noted.

As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, the mayor of Ivano-Frankivsk, where 589 cases of coronavirus infection have already been recorded, Ruslan Martsynkiv instructed to take people of Roma nationality out of the city to the Zakarpattia Region. He explained this act by the coronavirus epidemic in the city. When the head of the city's emergency department, Ihor Vlizlo, replied to him that 12 people refused to leave, Martsynkiv was surprised why they were not "packed". Subsequently, the police opened criminal proceedings under Art. 161 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, which is a violation of the equality of citizens depending on their race, nationality, religious beliefs, disability and other grounds.