Iryna Nozdrovskaya, a 38-year-old human rights activist and lawyer who pursued justice when a drunk driver killed her sister, was found dead in a river near Kyiv Oblast’s Demydove village on Jan. 1.
She had been threatened only days earlier by the father of the man convicted in her sister’s death. A murder investigation has been opened.
Nozdrovskaya went missing on Dec. 29, the day after Kyiv Oblast Court of Appeal rejected the appeal for freedom of Dmytro Rososhanskiy, convicted and sentenced to seven years in prison for driving under the influence of alcohol when he struck and killed Novdrovskaya’s sister, 26-year-old Svitlana Sapatinskaya, on Sept. 30, 2015.
Rososhanskiy, nephew of the head of Vyshgorod District Court, on Dec. 27 sought release from jail, Nozdrovskaya wrote in her last Facebook post on Dec. 28, and cited provisions of an amnesty law.
“Today drug-addicted nephew of a judge, a killer of my sister, was supposed to be released from jail. His addiction gave him a bunch of diseases that could have helped him to escape justice,” Nozdrovskaya wrote.
“It emerged that killers, who have cirrhosis, hepatitis, and other diseases can use the amnesty law to be released from jail and continue their criminal career.”
Lawmaker Mustafa Nayyem wrote on Facebook on Jan. 1 that Rososhanskiy’s father was openly threatening
Nozdrovskaya during the court session, saying she would “end up badly.”
The judge refused to set Rososhanskiy free and Nozdrovskaya expressed her gratitude.
“The court didn’t satisfy his defender’s claim. The killer of my sister will celebrate New Year behind bars,” she wrote.
On Dec. 29, Nozdrovskaya’s daughter, Anastasia, wrote that her mother went missing and asked for help.
On Dec. 30, Demydove residents and police launched a search.
“On Jan. 1 police found the body and launched a criminal investigation of first-degree murder,” Ukraine’s Interior Ministry press service reported on Jan.1.
