Together, Cristiano Tinazzi, Olga Tokariuk, Danilo Elia and Ruben Lagattolla set out on a long and delicate mission, travelling to Ukraine, Russia, France, the UK and Italy to investigate in-situ, interview old and new witnesses, and search for further evidence. Their objective is to produce a documentary film – The Wrong Place – recounting the tragic events near Mount Karachun, with film crews shooting directly in Sloviansk, the first city to be seized by Russia-backed military troops, but liberated by Ukrainian forces in July 2014.
On January 11, 2020, the team launched a crowdfunding campaign to help finance their documentary film – The Wrong Place – a detailed investigation into the tragic events at Mount Karachun near Sloviansk on May 24, 2014 and the shocking sentence pronounced by the Pavia court in the Markiv trial. Many experts say that the case has become very political and needs to be reviewed independently.
It goes without saying that this team of independent journalists needs your help to continue their investigation and film production.
Thank you for your support! Please donate here: http://sostieni.link/24138
Teaser for The Wrong Place:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQRx1EzaqOw&fbclid=IwAR3QQDmVLwnqOBk5ejvYhSpoK-b7CdqtiAkI-kC2lhc8zKpwV_AqLvHZ53s
What has been achieved:
In August 2019, the team started their work in Moscow, where they met with Paul Gogo, a freelance French journalist working in the Donbas in 2014. In their interview, Gogo talked about William Roguelon, another French photojournalist, who was with Rocchelli on that fatal day and who called Gogo on the day of the mortar shelling, May 24, 2014.
In December 2019, the journalists visited Sloviansk, where they used a drone to create a digital map (DEM, digital elevation model) of the whole area and also to film the actual view from Mount Karachun using targeting optics.
In Sloviansk, they also interviewed locals who had been in touch with Rocchelli and who also remember that on the morning of May 24, 2014, there was a heavy exchange of fire between Russian-backed militants and Ukrainian forces.
The team then moved to a military range outside Kyiv, filming remote shooting and recognition tests. They used an AK-74 (5.45×39), a PKM machine gun (7.62×54 R), and a Svd Dragunov sniper rifle (7.62×54 R) with a PSO-1 lens. Distances: 100/500/1000/1500 metres.
The team was able to interview PBS reporter Simon Ostrovsky, who told them how he had been kidnapped by Russian-led militants in Sloviansk. He also outlined the dangers encountered by journalists working in Ukrainian regions controlled by Russian-backed militia men.
They also interviewed Bohdan Matkivsky, Markiv’s commander on Mount Karachun. Matkivsky was summoned by the Italian judges as witness in the trial. He has been referred to the Rome Court as an accomplice in the murder of Rocchelli and Mironov.
They talked to Major General Luigi Scollo, who served in Lebanon, Afghanistan and Iraq, about the use of mortars and heavy artillery, and the maximum effective range of an assault rifle.
The team interviewed Volodymyr Melenets, director of the Ceramic Donbas Factory, which is a short distance from the railway crossing where the journalists were positioned during the mortar shelling and crossfire.
On January 14, the team found “the unknown one”, “the evanescent one”, as he was called during the trial in Pavia and published his photo on FB.
“He disappeared… We never tracked him down.” said the prosector during the trial.
He is the mysterious “fifth man” who appears in the last photos taken by Rocchelli minutes before his death. Everyone searched for him: the prosecutor, investigators and civil parties. He is Maksym, who survived the shelling in the ditch where Rocchelli and Mironov lost their lives. He had never been identified nor interrogated by the investigators. The team was able to interview him and listen to his version of the tragic events of May 24, 2014.
Once again, your support is greatly needed so that this team of independent journalists can continue searching for the truth!
If you’re interested in following the latest developments of the shooting of The Wrong Place, please go to the FB page: https://www.facebook.com/THEWRONGPLACE1/
