Lviv court sentences Viacheslav Zinchenko to life for murder of former Ukrainian lawmaker Iryna Farion
Lviv’s Shevchenkivskyi District Court sentenced Dnipro resident Viacheslav Zinchenko to life in prison for murdering politician Iryna Farion.
Zinchenko was charged with premeditated murder and illegal weapons possession. He denied the charges.
Prosecutors alleged that Zinchenko killed Farion “in connection with the victim’s performance of her civic duty and motivated by national intolerance.” They said he believed there was “discrimination on the basis of nationality against Ukrainian citizens who speak Russian.” Zinchenko viewed Farion, who was known for defending Ukrainian language and culture, as someone who had supposedly “divided the nation.”
As the verdict was read, demonstrators outside the courthouse demanded a life sentence for Zinchenko.
On the evening of July 19, 2024, Farion was shot in the head in an assassination attempt in the courtyard of her home in Lviv. She was a linguist and had served in Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, during its seventh session. Farion died in the hospital. The shooter fled the scene. Zinchenko was detained in Dnipro on July 25 on suspicion of murdering the former lawmaker. The next day, a court ordered him held in pretrial detention.
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