Ukraine opens criminal investigation into 94-year old Jewish war hero

Ukrainian authorities have decided to open a criminal investigation into a 94-year-old Jewish Second World War hero who is being accused of killing a Nazi collaborator.

Colonel Boris Steckler was warned that he is expected to stand trial for killing a Ukrainian nationalist in 1952.

Steckler was a senior officer in the Soviet Army and after the war was appointed as an officer in the KGB and was responsible for capturing Nazis and collaborators in western Ukraine.

During a battle in the Rivne Oblast in western Ukraine, Steckler was involved in a confrontation with nationalists who cooperated with the Nazis. During the confrontation, a man by the name of Neil Hasiewicz, who was a propagandist and district judge during the war, was shot and killed.

Local nationalist groups recently filed a complaint against Steckler, accusing him of responsibility for the assassination of Hasiewicz—a fact that Steckler does not deny.

In an unprecedented move, this is the first time Ukrainian authorities have sought to arrest a person who worked against Nazi collaborators during and after the Second World War.

Steckler was recognised as a local war hero and is regularly invited to the parades commemorating the victory over the Nazis. He was wounded during the war and received countless medals for courage.

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