A court in Pavia (Italy) has sentenced Ukrainian national guardsman Vitalii Markiv to 24 years in prison for his involvement in the murder of Italian photojournalist Andrea Rocchelli in Donbas.

Oles Horodetskyi, the head of the Ukrainian Christian Society in Italy, who was present during the announcement of the court’s verdict, announced this on Facebook, Ukrainian News Agency reports.

“Awful news! An Italian court has sentenced Vitalii Markiv to 24 years in prison,” he wrote.

Besides, the court decided to send a request to law enforcement officials to begin criminal prosecution of Member of Parliament Bohdan Matkivskyi, who is a former member of the National Guard.

Markiv’s lawyer Rafaela Della Valle fell ill in the courtroom after the announcement of the verdict.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, Italian law enforcement officers detained Markiv on June 30, 2017, on suspicion of involvement in the murder of Rocchelli near Sloviansk in May 2014.

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