Image supply, Getty Images
- Author, Tom McArthur
- Role, BBC News
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A former Ukrainian nationalist MP has died after being shot on the road in the western metropolis of Lviv.
Iryna Farion precipitated controversy in 2023 by suggesting that “true patriots” of Ukraine mustn’t communicate Russian beneath any circumstances.
The 60-year-old linguistic professor’s killing on Friday is being investigated and police say it might have been a focused assault.
Her attacker has not been recognized. Police say an influence outage affected CCTV in the world.
Lviv Regional Governor Maksym Kozytskyi stated on Telegram that Ms Farion died in hospital after the taking pictures.
Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko stated “this was not a spontaneous killing” and police have been searching for a motive.
“We already have several versions. The main ones, I can say, are [linked to Farion’s] social and political activities and personal dislike,” he stated in a press release by way of the Telegram message service.
“We do not rule out that the murder has a commissioned character,” he added.
“All versions are being investigated, including the one that leads to Russia,” he stated.
The hardline nationalist Svoboda (Freedom) political occasion Ms Farion was a member of blamed Russia straight for the killing.
“Moscow shoots in the temple for the Ukrainian language,” it stated in a press release.
In 2023, Ms Farion stated that true patriots of Ukraine mustn’t communicate Russian in any settings, together with on the entrance traces, as it’s the language of the aggressor nation.
She described Russian as “the language of the enemy, who kills, discriminates, insults and rapes me”, and added: “How crazy should you be to fight in the Ukrainian army and speak Russian?”
Her phrases provoked a powerful response in Ukraine on the time, with individuals accusing her of inciting hatred based mostly on linguistic preferences.
She was dismissed from a college in western Ukraine and was investigated by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU).
In May, the Lviv Court of Appeal reportedly issued a ruling reinstating her to the place.
