Ukraine, parents Rocchelli photojournalist: “Solidarity for invasion but we are still waiting for justice”

The violence of the bombs that devastate everything, the faces of those who see the future in ashes, the young people who take up arms, the desperation of those who flee. In Andrea Rocchelli’s photos there are all the expressions of Ukrainian resistance and fear. Eight years later, the war returns to shake the world but he, a photojournalist killed at 30, can no longer tell it and his parents – father Rino Rocchelli and mother Elisa Signori – are still awaiting justice. “The images of these days remind us of the images of 8 years ago, today as then the first victims of the war are civilians, who suffer grief, deprivation, trauma, flight. Andrea had chosen precisely this point of view, everyday life of civilians, to tell the story of Ukraine in 2014 “, parents tell Adnkronos. “In February he took talking images of the so-called ‘dignity revolution’ of Maidan, living day after day that peaceful protest with the citizens of Kiev who took to the streets, and returned to the Donbass in May to document the distorted daily life of the inhabitants of Sloviansk, guilty only of wanting to live in peace while a ruthless fratricidal war was unleashed around them “. Today the Russian invasion seems unstoppable and spares no one. “As far as Putin’s government is concerned, we firmly associate ourselves with the condemnation of the ongoing invasion and we are in solidarity with the population that is suffering it. As for the current Ukrainian government as regards the killing of Andrea, it must be said that it has continued. in line with the previous one, denying the dynamics of the facts reconstructed by the Italian judiciary, lying and above all constructing false truths. ‘Ukraine assumes its responsibilities and justice is done on this case “. Civilians have been dying under the bombs for days and diplomacy does not seem to be making progress. Victims who, like Andrea Rocchelli, risk not having justice. “We delude ourselves that no one will ever die in vain: those responsible for this brutal aggression will not enjoy the fruit, in war all are defeated. As for the killing of Andrea, Andrej Mironov and the wounding of William Roguelon, helpless victims of a deliberate attack of the Ukrainian armed forces, as sanctioned in three levels of judgment by the Italian judiciary, we are determined to prevent Ukrainian responsibilities from going unpunished “, underline the parents of the photojournalist. “If we do not want other journalists and photographers intent on doing their job honestly and courageously to enter the crosshairs of those who consider them uncomfortable witnesses, we must create a very strong deterrence against this crime”. A struggle for rights and peace. “Andrea followed peace initiatives in different contexts, in Ukraine he collaborated with the NGO Soleterre and, to raise funds, he made reportages and videos with cancer-sick children in the family home run by Soleterre in Kiev. Our commitment is twofold: from on the one hand, to seek every possible judicial and political path to obtain justice against the perpetrators of the double murder, on the other hand to enhance and disseminate, as we have partly tried to do so far, with exhibitions and books the extraordinary photographic archive that Andrea left us “, conclude Rino Rocchelli and Elisa Signori.