Angry Ukrainians storm police HQ over rape case
Source: Agencies |
July 3, 2013, Wednesday
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ANGRY residents in a town in southern Ukraine stormed the local police headquarters after authorities refused to detain one of two police officers implicated in the brutal gang-rape of a young woman.
TV footage showed men throwing stones and storming the gates of the station in Vradiyevka on Monday night. Windows and doors were broken and a man lying next to a pool of blood was later taken away in an ambulance.
The chaos was over by yesterday morning with most protesters returning to their homes, said Natalia Pirogova, a math teacher at a local school.
A 29-year-old woman in the town, some 330 kilometers south of Kiev, said she was shoved into a car, driven to woods, raped and savagely beaten last week by two policemen, aided by a driver. The woman was in a coma for several days, having sustained skull fractures and bruises all over her body.
One of the police officers and the driver have been detained, but the second policeman ? whom the woman identified as the main perpetrator ? has remained free, claiming he was on duty at the headquarters at the time.
In a video interview, Irina Krashkova, her face swollen and disfigured by bruises, identified the alleged perpetrators and said the policeman who remained free was the organizer of the crime. She had decided to waive her right to anonymity as the victim of rape.
"They strangled me, they beat me, they called me various names," the woman said, barely able to speak. "Then they took off my clothes." She said the main attacker raped her and then offered her to the other police officer, who did the same. She said the driver did not touch her.
The crime brought to mind last year's brutal attack on an 18-year-old in the same Mykolayiv region. The victim, Oksana Makar, was raped, strangled and set on fire by three young men, some of whom had well-connected relatives. She died two weeks later.
Two of the three suspects were initially released and re-arrested only after nationwide protests. The case galvanized Ukrainians fed up with the corruption that allows people with money and connections to avoid punishment.
TV footage showed men throwing stones and storming the gates of the station in Vradiyevka on Monday night. Windows and doors were broken and a man lying next to a pool of blood was later taken away in an ambulance.
The chaos was over by yesterday morning with most protesters returning to their homes, said Natalia Pirogova, a math teacher at a local school.
A 29-year-old woman in the town, some 330 kilometers south of Kiev, said she was shoved into a car, driven to woods, raped and savagely beaten last week by two policemen, aided by a driver. The woman was in a coma for several days, having sustained skull fractures and bruises all over her body.
One of the police officers and the driver have been detained, but the second policeman ? whom the woman identified as the main perpetrator ? has remained free, claiming he was on duty at the headquarters at the time.
In a video interview, Irina Krashkova, her face swollen and disfigured by bruises, identified the alleged perpetrators and said the policeman who remained free was the organizer of the crime. She had decided to waive her right to anonymity as the victim of rape.
"They strangled me, they beat me, they called me various names," the woman said, barely able to speak. "Then they took off my clothes." She said the main attacker raped her and then offered her to the other police officer, who did the same. She said the driver did not touch her.
The crime brought to mind last year's brutal attack on an 18-year-old in the same Mykolayiv region. The victim, Oksana Makar, was raped, strangled and set on fire by three young men, some of whom had well-connected relatives. She died two weeks later.
Two of the three suspects were initially released and re-arrested only after nationwide protests. The case galvanized Ukrainians fed up with the corruption that allows people with money and connections to avoid punishment.
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