Andrea Rocchelli

Andrea Rocchelli (27 September 1983 – 24 May 2014) was an Italian freelance photojournalist. He founded the independent photographers collective Cesura.[1]

Andrea Rocchelli
Born(1983-09-27)27 September 1983
Pavia, Lombardy, Italy
Died24 May 2014(2014-05-24) (aged 30)
Sloviansk Raion, Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine
Cause of deathShrapnel
Resting placePavia, Italy
OccupationPhotojournalist

Biography

Rocchelli graduated in 2007 at the Polytechnic University of Milan where he was awarded a master's degree in Communications Design. Subsequently, he was trained by Magnum Photos photographer Alex Majoli. In 2008, with other four photographers, he founded Cesura, a photographic collective aiming to produce independent projects.

He worked as a freelance photojournalist with a diversified curriculum. He documented the Arab Spring in Libya and Tunisia, the violation of human rights in Kyrgyzstan and Ingushetia, the conditions of migrants in Southern Italy and organized crime. His principal interest had been eastern Europe and Russia. His photos have been published by a number of journals and magazines such as Le Monde, Newsweek, The Wall Street Journal, and Russian opposition newspaper Novaya Gazeta.[2]

When Rocchelli died, his first book, Russian Interiors, was about to be completed. The work was published posthumously by Cesura.[3]

Death

Rocchelli was killed in Andriivka, Ukraine, near Sloviansk, on 24 May 2014 while reporting on the war in Donbass. He was travelling with the human rights activist and interpreter Andrei Mironov (also died in the attack), a French photo reporter, and a local driver. When they stopped to take some pictures near a railway line, the group was attacked with automatic weapons and mortar fire from the "Karachun" hill, where the Ukrainian army was stationed.[4] The Italian authorities described the attack that killed both Mironov and Rocchelli as murder.[5]

The last pictures Rocchelli took before his death precisely document the attack that killed him and Mironov and permanently injured Roguelon. These photographs testify to the duration of the shootings, the morphology of the area, and the civilian clothing worn by the victims.[6]

Investigation and trial in Italy

William Roguelon, the sole survivor of the attack among the reporters, said that the group was targeted by mortars and automatic weapons from the Karachun hill, where the National Guard of Ukraine and the Ukrainian army were stationed.[7]

The domestic inquiry carried out by the Ukrainian authorities explicitly failed to attest any responsibility of the double murder. The international rogatory issued by the Italian Authorities did not bring any result due to the lack of cooperation, the substantial negligence and severe delay from the Ukrainian side.[8][9]

In 2016 the Italian prosecutors, therefore, opened a second phase of the inquiries that led to the arrest of Ukrainian and Italian National Guard soldier Vitalii Markiv. [10]

Angelo Napolitano, Chief of the Penitentiary Police, reported that Markiv was planning to escape from prison in Pavia, therefore he was transferred to Opera prison in 2017.[11][4]

From wiretaps held by the Italian police during the captivity, Markiv was recorded saying that they, the Ukrainian army, killed some journalists.[4][12][13]

After the court hearing on 8 February 2019, the interpreter, an Ukrainian woman, who had to translate from Ukrainian to Italian, such as the transcription of environmental wiretapping in prison, renounced the translation assignment.[14] Markiv's attorney requests the cancellation of all work done by the woman during the trial.[15] A year later, a witness declared that she became aware of the real reasons behind the translator's abandonment of the job, declaring that the latter would have been threatened in a telephone call by an unknown person, in Ukrainian language, who would have asked her to retract their translations.[16][17]

Accused to contribute to the intentional murder of the two civilians, Markiv has been judged guilty by the Pavia court of justice on July 12th 2019 and condemned to serve 24 years in jail. The Ukrainian State, also involved in the trial as civil responsible of the attack, was then judged guilty.[18][19] The same sentence, furthermore, calls for the forwarding of the file concerning Commander Bogdan Matkiwsky for investigation by the Rome Prosecutor's Office because he is deemed the direct superior of Markiv during the operations that killed Rocchelli and Mironov.[20]

Mr Markiv and the Ukrainian State made an appeal to the verdict and the II grade trial took place in fall 2020 in Milan court of justice. On November 3rd 2020 the court, while holding the Ukrainian armed forces guilty of the murder of the journalists,[21] acquitted Mr Markiv mentioning articles 605 and 530 II section of the Italian penal code (lack of evidence).[22]

Reaction in Ukraine and abroad

Rocchelli will subsequently listed on the Myrotvorets website, managed by the Ukrainian secret services and promoted by Anton Gerashchenko. On the photo of his page, which can be consulted online, the secret services applied the red wording "Liquidated", also reporting a note stating that the photojournalist was "cooperating with pro-Russian terrorist organizations" and that he had violated the border state of Ukraine to penetrate into the territory occupied by "Russian terrorist gangs".[23][24]

The Moscow Basmanny Court finds Vitaliy Markiv guilty of the murder of the two journalists[25] and he is charged in absentia under Part 2 of Article 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation: "murder committed by a group of persons, a group of persons by previous concert, or an organized group by reason of political, ideological, racial, national or religious hatred or enmity, or by reason of hatred or enmity with respect to some social group".[26]

Exhibitions

2014 September 4– 9 Ukraina Revolution, curated by Cesura and Ilaria Alpi Association; Palazzo Graziani, San Marino, SM.[27]

2014 September 20– 2 November. Evidence, retrospective curated by photographer Gianluca Grossi and Cesura; Spazio Reale, Monte Carasso, Bellinzona, CH.[28]

2015 June 5– 5 July. Stories, retrospective curated by Cesura and Lucia Rocchelli; Palazzo del Broletto, Pavia, IT.[29]

2015 September 30– 15 November. Stories, retrospective curated by Cesura and 3/3; Museo di Roma in Trastevere, Rome, IT. 2017.[30]

2017, 3–7 May. From the last front: the Ukraine of Rocchelli and Mironov, curated by Leonardo Brogioni; The Triennale Design Museum, Milan, IT. The exhibition was part of the International Human Rights Festival of Milan. 2017.[31]

23 November.– 2018 January 14 Andy Rocchelli: Letzte Front, curated by Miklos Klaus Rosza in collaboration with COOPI; Photobastei, Zurich, CH.[32]

2019, January 7th – February 2nd, Voice of the Voiceless – photo stories by Andy Rocchelli, in collaboration with Cesuralab and Osteria Letteraria Sottovento, Pavia, Italy.[33]

2020 October Mostra Diffusa, Andy Rocchelli’s photos exhibited in several places of Pavia. Curated by the association Volpi Scapigliate. [34]

Publications

Rocchelli's portrait of the feminine universe in the post-soviet era, Russian Interiors has been published in late 2014.[35] It has been positively reviewed by the international critique throughout the last years, e.g. it has been listed among the best 10 photobooks of 2014 by Martin Parr on the British Journal of Photography.

Awards

2014 June 13. Photo prize Ponchielli 2014 dedicated to Andy Rocchelli, Milan, IT.[36]

2014 September 7. Kamerton Prize to independent journalism conferred to Andy Rocchelli and Andrey Mironov. The prize is named after the Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, Moscow, RU.[37]

2014 December. San Siro civic award assigned by the municipality of Pavia, IT.[38]

2015 April 25 . World Press Photo, 2nd Prize of the section Portraits, Stories to the photowork Russian Interiors, Amsterdam, NL.[39]

2015 June. OSCE dedicated a commemorative plate to Andy Rocchelli as a tribute to those fallen for OSCE values in areas of conflict, Parliament, Rome, IT.[40]

2018, December 2nd, Prize for the professional activity given by the Pavia Chamber of Commerce.[41]

References
  1. "Cesura - Andy Rocchelli". Cesura.it. Retrieved 9 July 2014.
  2. "CESURA - ANDY ROCCHELLI". www.cesura.it. Retrieved 14 May 2018.
  3. "CESURA - Russian Interiors". www.cesura.it. Retrieved 15 May 2018.
  4. "CORTE D'ASSISE DI PAVIA - SENTENZA - IN NOME DEL POPOLO ITALIANO" [COURT OF ASSISE OF PAVIA - JUDGMENT - IN THE NAME OF THE ITALIAN PEOPLE] (PDF). giustiziami.it. 12 July 2019.
  5. "Who killed Andrea Rocchelli?". euronews. 25 July 2017. Retrieved 14 May 2018.
  6. "Gli ultimi scatti di Andrea Rocchelli prima di essere ucciso". l'Espresso (in Italian). 10 October 2016. Retrieved 15 May 2018.
  7. "Processo d'appello per l'omicidio del fotoreporter italiano Andrea Rocchelli e del suo interprete russo Andrej Mironov". radioradicale.it. 15 October 2015.
  8. https://www.repubblica.it/esteri/2019/06/30/news/quel_processo_diventato_una_guerra_italia-ucraina-230018933/
  9. https://espresso.repubblica.it/attualita/2017/11/17/news/rocchelli-in-italia-si-indaga-sulla-morte-ucraina-difende-i-colpevoli-1.314009
  10. https://www.ilrestodelcarlino.it/bologna/cronaca/andrea-rocchelli-1.3239138
  11. "Morte del reporter Rocchelli, la rivelazione: "Markiv aveva un piano per evadere"". 26 January 2019. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
  12. "Caso Rocchelli, le foto che tradiscono il presunto killer del fotoreporter". Avvenire. 18 January 2018. Retrieved 23 July 2019.
  13. "Rocchelli, chiesto un milione di euro per la famiglia. Anche all'Ucraina". 15 June 2019. Retrieved 24 July 2019.
  14. "Morte Andy Rocchelli: presunte intimidazioni a interprete nel processo". tg24.sky.it. 1 October 2020.
  15. "Morte Rocchelli, presunte minacce all'interprete del processo di Pavia". milanotoday.it. 1 October 2020.
  16. "Qualcuno ha minacciato l'interprete ucraina del processo per la morte di Rocchelli". agi.it. 1 October 2020.
  17. "Rocchelli, i giudici dispongono una nuova trascrizione delle intercettazioni in carcere". milano.repubblica.it. 1 October 2020.
  18. https://www.agi.it/cronaca/andy_rocchelli_motivazione_sentenza-6349965/news/2019-10-13/
  19. http://euromaidanpress.com/2019/10/14/pavia-judges-publish-statement-of-reasons-for-judicial-decision-in-markiv-case/
  20. "Italia; tribunale ordina di avviare un procedimento contro deputato ucraino". parstoday.com. 15 July 2019.
  21. "Rocchelli, soldato ucraino assolto per una svista". pressreader.com. 22 January 2021.
  22. https://milano.repubblica.it/cronaca/2020/11/03/news/omicidio_andy_rocchelli_ucraina_assolto_vitaly_markiv_milano-272955434/
  23. "Роккелли Андреа / Rocchelli Andrea / Rokkelli Andrea". Archived from the original on 5 May 2020.
  24. "Così l'Ucraina continua a sparare sulla memoria di Andrea Rocchelli". espresso.repubblica.it. 8 October 2018.
  25. "Omicidio Rocchelli, il Tribunale di Mosca accusa Markiv". rainews.it. 11 December 2020.
  26. "Украинский нацгвардеец заочно арестован в РФ за убийство россиянина и итальянца". interfax.ru. 11 December 2020.
  27. "Blog | Fotografia: 'Ukraina Revolution', gli scatti di Andy Rocchelli al Premio Ilaria Alpi - Il Fatto Quotidiano". Il Fatto Quotidiano (in Italian). 3 September 2014. Retrieved 30 May 2018.
  28. "Evidence 2014 - Ente autonomo Carasc". carasc.ch. Retrieved 30 May 2018.
  29. "Andy Rocchelli: Stories. Una retrospettiva a Pavia - Foto - La Provincia Pavese". La Provincia Pavese (in Italian). 29 May 2015. Retrieved 30 May 2018.
  30. "Andy Rocchelli - Stories | Museo di Roma in Trastevere". www.museodiromaintrastevere.it (in Italian). Retrieved 30 May 2018.
  31. "Andy Rocchelli - Festival Diritti Umani". Festival Diritti Umani (in Italian). 13 April 2017. Retrieved 30 May 2018.
  32. "Ausstellung "Letzte Front" - Mit Kriegsbildern gegen den Krieg". Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen (SRF) (in German). 29 November 2017. Retrieved 30 May 2018.
  33. https://www.fnsi.it/napoli-ricorda-andy-rocchelli-a-5-anni-dalla-scomparsa-la-mamma-la-morte-di-un-giornalista-riguarda-tutti
  34. http://www.ilticino.it/2020/09/29/pavia-una-mostra-diffusa-con-le-foto-di-andy-rocchelli/
  35. "CESURA - Russian Interiors". www.cesura.it. Retrieved 30 May 2018.
  36. "Premio Ponchielli 2014 | GRIN Photoeditors". www.photoeditors.it (in Italian). Retrieved 30 May 2018.
  37. Узел, Кавказский. "Politkovskaya Award of 2014 will go to Andrea Rocchelli and Andrei Mironov". Caucasian Knot. Retrieved 30 May 2018.
  38. "Rocchelli-Maestri-Sgotto la terna del San Siro 2014 - Cronaca - La Provincia Pavese". La Provincia Pavese (in Italian). 3 December 2014. Retrieved 30 May 2018.
  39. "Andy Rocchelli". World Press Photo. Retrieved 30 May 2018.
  40. "OSCE Representative mourns death of Italian journalist and his assistant in Ukraine | OSCE". www.osce.org. Retrieved 30 May 2018.
  41. https://www.ilgiorno.it/pavia/economia/produzione-industriale-1.4325809
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