In the courtroom, the suspect in the murder of Andriy Parubiy, former speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s parliament, publicly admitted his guilt.

The defendant told journalists that he viewed the killing as “a personal act of revenge against the Ukrainian authorities.” At the same time, he categorically rejected media reports alleging that Russian intelligence services had blackmailed him by exploiting the disappearance of his son at the front.

“This is personal revenge against the Ukrainian authorities. All I want is for the verdict to be delivered as soon as possible. Yes, I admit it – I killed him, and I want to request to be included in a prisoner exchange so I can go and find the body of my son,” he said.

Speaking about the choice of his victim, the suspect admitted he acted spontaneously: “Parubiy was nearby.” He also suggested that under different circumstances, former President Petro Poroshenko could have become the target: “If I lived in Vinnytsia, it would have been Petya.”

According to media present at the court hearing, the suspect in Parubiy’s murder has been placed under 60 days of pre-trial detention without the right to bail.

Andriy Parubiy, a sitting member of Ukraine’s parliament and former speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, was shot and killed in Lviv on Aug. 30.

Police said the shooting occurred in the western Sykhivskyi district of the city. Parubiy was shot eight times and died at the scene.

Parubiy was a well-known public and political figure. He served in the 6th through 9th sessions of parliament and was speaker of the Verkhovna Rada from 2016 to 2019.

During the Euromaidan protests, he acted as commander of the “Maidan Self-Defense,” an improvised security force protecting the protesters from the Ministry of Interior troops – controlled by then-President Viktor Yanukovych – surrounding the tent city in the center of Kyiv.