Zinchenko confessed to Farion's murder in conversation with cellmate – prosecutor's office

The accused in the murder of linguist and politician Iryna Farion allegedly confessed to the crime during a conversation with his cellmate. The prosecutor cited the relevant dialogue during a hearing in the Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Lviv, reports Suspilne.

Prosecutor Dmytro Petliovanyi said that during the meeting they would examine the protocol of covert investigative search operations.

He read from the protocol the text of the conversation between an unknown person – a cellmate, and the accused. In the original, it was in Russian. Cellmate addresses Vyacheslav Zinchenko:

- Tell me, kid, did you get something out of it??

- No.

- Yes, and why are you sitting there, why did you sign up for all this if you didn't even get the money? Well, you did the job, killed a person, I understood, so you gave the cash register or you did it on the grounds of patriotism?

- On the basis of personal animosity.

- On the grounds of personal animosity? Oh, f*** off****. How stupid do you have to be... You didn't even know her

- Yeah.

- What kind of personal dislike can there be? Or do you mean dislike that she spoke like that, that she had such an opinion, or what? What do you understand as personal dislike??

- He treated her badly in particular.

- Why? What did she do to you??

- She spoke badly.

- Spoke badly about whom, what?

- To my address.

- To your address?

- Not specifically for me.

- And on whose?

- Russian speakers.

- Who gave you the right to take someone's life? If you look at it this way, you could have doused her with brilliant green, I don't know, poured gasoline on her, broken her arm or leg, but not taken her life, you know?

- Uh-huh.

At the same time, the defendant stated that this evidence could not be taken into account.

"This evidence is inadmissible. Because they humiliated my honor and dignity, forced me to admit my guilt, and after I said something to leave me alone, the pressure decreased. What is said there is not true, I said to leave me alone and not to put pressure on me," Zinchenko said.

His defense argues that the accused should have been in the cell alone and asked to identify those who spoke to him.

• On the evening of July 19, 2024, was shot in the head by Farion in Lviv. A few hours later, she died in the hospital – she was 60 years old. Farion was a politician, teacher and linguist.
• On July 25, an 18-year-old man wanted in the case of Farion's murder was detained. He turned out to be a resident of Dnipro, Zinchenko.
• On July 26, the suspect in Farion's murder was arrested without bail.
• In December, the case of the murder of linguist was sent to court.