Nigerians living in Ukraine, and indeed, across the world
are protesting the arrest of a Nigerian student for allegedly defending himself
against six teenagers who attacked him at the entrance to his apartment block.
The student, Olaolu Sunkanmi Femi is currently languishing in jail and may be
facing life imprisonment in Ukraine.
African Outlook gathered that he was arrested after
defending himself against his assailants with a glass from a broken bottle in
front of his apartment block on November 5, last year in Luhanski, Ukraine.
Witnesses at the scene told African Outlook that one of his
friends was physically attacked in front of his apartment by four Ukrainian
young men and two women who pulled them to the ground while hurling racist
slurs on them.
Sunkanmi was said to have managed to get up and defended
himself against the assailants with a glass from a broken bottle.
“It was while he was defending himself that police arrived
at the scene and the Nigerian was subsequently arrested and charged with
attempted murder of five people” a Nigerian embassy staff who has knowledge of
the case told African Outlook, adding that the victim thus became an accused in
a case which has become a celebrated case in Ukraine.
What is noteworthy about his case is that Olasunkanmi has
since been remanded in detention by the Ukrainian police who refused to take
the case to court citing unavailability of the police to get an interpreter for
him.
Osarumen David-Izevbokun, a Phd student in International
Relations and the leader of the Nigerian Students’ Community in Ukraine
alongside other Nigerian students have been organizing protests as well as
drawing the attentions of the human right groups in Ukraine to the plight of
Olasunkanmi who has spent almost seven months in jail without trial.
According to a source, the female Lawyer handling
Olasukanmi’s case, Ludmila Havrysh was reported to have told protesters that
her client has not been able to read the file material since it is all written
in Ukrainian or Russian which he doesn’t understand and that was why her client
had remained in jail.
“We heard she wanted to be paid $10,000 when she had not
even been able to secure bail for her client who has been in detention for more
than six months” the source told African Outlook.
When asked if the embassy has been able to secure the
service of an attorney for the Nigerian student, a Nigerian Embassy staff who
spoke anonymously told African Outlook: “It is not within our mandate to pay
for attorney’s fees for any Nigerian in distress, you may check this out with
other Nigerian embassies abroad, but we have been working with the Nigerian
community leaders here to ensure that we do everything within our means to help
Olasunkanmi in time of his need.”
In a related development, African Outlook gathered that two
Nigeian students are lying critically ill in Ukranian hospitals following
attacks on them. One of them, is a 28-year-old Nigerian student of Kharkiv
National Radio Electronic University while the second is a 19-year-old Nigerian
student from the Poltava Agrarian Academy.
They sustained knife injuries inflicted on them by yet to be
identified persons.
To raise support for Olasukanmi, a Facebook Page: Let’sSupport Olaolu Femi has been opened.
It is hoped that Olasukanmi’s case would be treated fairly
and he would find the necessary help from the Nigerian Embassy soon.
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