WUNRN
UKRAINE - RUTHLESS RAPE DRAWS
PUBLIC OUTRAGE OVER OFFICIAL IMPUNITY
Associated Press
In this file photo taken from
Novosti- N.mk.ua Nikolayev internet newspaper web site on Tuesday, July 2,
2013, rape victim Irina Krashkova, a 29-year-old woman from the town of
By MARIA DANILOVA - The Associated Press
July 21, 2013 - VRADIYEVKA, Ukraine - It was an ordinary summer evening for 29-year-old Irina Krashkova, a single mother in this quiet farming town. After a day running errands, she went dancing with her girlfriends at the local bar.
As she walked home, she said, two policemen pulled up beside her. One was 1st Lt. Evhen Dryzhak — a feared man about town, described by locals as a heavy drinker who beat and insulted townsfolk and forced them to pay his bar bills.
What happened next shattered Krashkova's peaceful life, filled with days breeding ducks and playing checkers with her 12-year-old son Dimitry. The cops, Krashkova said, forced her into the car and drove her to the woods. There, with the help of a friend, they allegedly beat her so badly they fractured her skull. The officers then took turns raping her, Krashkova said.
The case brought attention to Ukrainians' growing outrage over the perceived impunity of officials and their powerful friends — from lawmakers to businessmen to small-town cops. Reports of police abuse ranging from horrific violence to quiet bribery have risen sharply since the 2010 election of President Viktor Yanukovych. The opposition accuses him of moving Ukraine down an authoritarian path and trampling democratic institutions and the rule of law.
Even after Krashkova fingered Dryzhak as the leader of the attack, the burly officer continued to walk the streets of Vradiyevka for a week — showing up at work and buying raspberries at the local market. He even interviewed witnesses in the case. The horror of the crime combined with years enduring abuse from Dryzhak and his fellow officers to send a current of rage through the town. Hundreds of residents stormed the police station in protest.
It was only then that Dryzhak was arrested. His alleged accomplices, police Lt. Dmitry Polishchuk and their friend, were detained soon after the attack. All three say they are innocent and refuse to testify.
Krashkova's case bore shocking resemblance to one in Mykolaiv, the capital of the region that includes Vradiyevka. Last year, a young woman was raped, set on fire and died after two weeks in the hospital. Three suspects were detained, but one with powerful regional connections and his friend were quickly released. They were jailed again only after protests erupted across the country. One suspect has been sentenced to life, while two others received prison terms of 14-15 years.
Krashkova's case, too, has become a national cause. Hundreds of activists rallied Thursday against police abuse and impunity in the center of Kiev and erected tents to maintain a round-the-clock protest. Some came on foot from Vradiyevka, a town some 330 kilometers (200 miles) south of the capital. But the protest was forcefully dispersed overnight by riot police and the tents were torn down. Several activists were detained.
Ukrainians say they are tired of seeing the powers-that-be, their kin and their cronies avoid punishment for crimes big and small — from bribe-taking to ignoring traffic rules to committing rapes and murders. People complain that they are defenseless against the giant corrupt government machine, in which law enforcers and officials close ranks and cover up each other's crimes.
From her hospital bed, Krashkova recently described the horror of the attack.
"They strangled me, they beat me and called me all kinds of names," Krashkova said in a weak voice in a video interview with local media. Her face was swollen and bruised and her head was wrapped in a white bandage. "Dryzhak raped me and asked Polishchuk, 'Do you want to?' He said 'yes' and raped me."
The Associated Press does not generally identify victims of sexual assault, but makes an exception where the victim has publicly identified herself.
After the attack, the alleged rapists drove away but soon returned — apparently to finish her off. They could not find her in the dark. After they left, Krashkova started walking — taking a few steps, passing out, coming to, taking a few more steps. Eventually she reached a village and stumbled into a flour mill.
Manager Svitlana Chubko found Krashkova naked, covered in blood, hiding her private parts with a bunch of leaves, and clutching a pair of sandals.
"Her lip was hacked, you could see her teeth," Chubko told The Associated Press. "She was all covered in blood, her head was hacked, her face was swollen, she was all covered in bruises."
While Polishchuk and the friend who drove the car sat in jail, Dryzhak remained free — claiming he had been on duty at the police station that evening.
A week later, enraged residents stormed the police station, believing he was hiding inside. They threw rocks, smashed the windows with bats and hurled firebombs.
Serhiy Maksimenko, a local opposition activist, is convinced that the case would have been hushed up had it not been for the protest. That's because Polishchuk is the nephew of a senior regional prosecutor and Dryzhak is closely connected to the top regional police official.
"I am 100 percent sure that had the people not risen up, this Dryzhak guy would have come out clean, he would be investigating this very case," Maksimenko said. "They would have scared her into keeping her mouth shut."
Prosecutors investigating the police response said the deputy police chief tried to protect Dryzhak. They say he beat one of the two alleged accomplices to force him not to testify against Dryzhak, and that several policemen falsely testified that he was with them at the station all night. The police chief was fired, his deputy arrested and the policemen who gave false testimony are under investigation.
Some two weeks after the attack on Krashkova, business was running as usual at the Vradiyevka police station; the broken windows and doors had been replaced. Policemen showed no sign of remorse. One officer lamented that Vradiyevka was dragged through the mud on national television. Another mocked an Associated Press journalist for traveling from the capital Kiev, saying: "Why, has something happened?"
Valery Koba, the acting police chief, sought to strike an apologetic tone, saying that what happened was "simply unacceptable," but denied that it was characteristic of police impunity.
If Dryzhak and Polishchuk are found guilty, Koba said, it would be "an exception rather than the rule, if you look at the police as a whole."
Human rights groups have a different view. An April report by Amnesty International said that police abuse is rampant in Ukraine, while the authorities refuse to investigate and fight it. And a study by the global corruption watchdog Transparency International released last week said that nearly half of Ukrainians believe that corruption has increased significantly over the past few years.
"The reaction of Vradiyevka residents clearly demonstrates to what extent people don't trust the current system of investigating and punishing crimes committed by government officials," Amnesty said earlier this month.
Emboldened by media attention and a pledge by top government officials to bring order, Vradiyevka's townsfolk have filed a raft of complaints against police abuse over the years. One man went on national television and accused police of torture to draw out a false confession. Another man said on the same TV show that police raped his wife, driving her insane. Authorities have not responded publicly to the televised complaints.
Lyudmyla Montian, 40, who worked with Krashkova at the grocery store, said residents fear that Vradiyevka would sink back into lawlessness once the Kiev investigators leave town. In the case of Oksana Makar, the dead rape victim from Mykolaiv, a senior police officer who was fired for allowing the release of the two suspects has been reinstated by the Interior Ministry.
"Everybody wants things to change," Montian said. "But will they change? People are not sure."
Krashkova's mother wept as she expressed her fear that the rapists would evade justice.
"How can the holy earth carry such beasts?" Maria Krashkova to the AP. "Did I give birth to four children so that somebody could torture them?"
Copyright The Associated Press
___________________________________________________
Human Rights Without Frontiers
Ukraine - Demand for Objective Investigation of
Brutal Rape by Vradiyevka Police
Open Dialog Foundation (29.07.2013) -A brutal rape of a resident
of the village Vradiyevka (Nikolayev Province, Ukraine) Irina Krashkova by
local police officers has led to huge public outcry and has developed into
open defiance of the authorities. As the suspects were attempting to evade
responsibility, using their official position and family ties amongst the
top-level leaders of law enforcement agencies, villagers, outraged by the
actions of law enforcement officers, stormed the building of the District
Department of the Internal Affairs. Thus, the high-profile events in
Vradiyevka clearly demonstrated the fundamental problems of the Ukrainian
militia and the urgent need for reform. The
rape of Irina Krashkova On 26 June, 2013, close to midnight, on
Mayakovsky street, a car drove up to a 29-year-old resident of the village of
Vradiyevka, Irina Krashkova, who was returning home from a disco, and one of
the men sitting in the car offered the girl a ride. When she refused, she was
forcefully dragged inside. As it transpired, inside the car were police
officers: Captain Yevgeniy Dryzhak and Lt. Dmitriy Polishchuk, and at the
wheel was a local taxi driver, Sergei Ryabinenko. They took Irina into a
wooded area near the village of Syrovo, which is located about 6 km to the
north-west of Vradiyevka.[1] According to the victim, while the car was
still in motion, the police officers began to beat her, not only with their
hands but also, presumably, with a heavy object, after she asked them to drop
her off near her house. When they arrived at the the woodland area, the driver
also joined the policemen, and he was beating her particularly severely. "They
pushed me to the ground and kept beating and kicking me. Then they dragged me
back into the car and Dryzhak raped me" - the victim reported. After that, Dryzhak invited Polishchuk to
do the same: "Do you want her? She's all yours", to which he
replied: "I do", and so he also raped Irina Krashkova. Ryabinenko
did not abuse her sexually, but while the police officers were raping her, he
was hitting her hard about the head.After the rape, the men dragged Irina out
of the car, took her personal belongings (all her clothing, handbag,
phone and gold jewellery) and left. It was with great difficulty that she
crawled into the high bushes and hid. [2] After a while, the rapists came back and began
to look for her, but, fortunately, they couldn't find her. It was the next
morning before the naked and battered resident of Vradiyevka reached a mill
on the edge of the village of Syrovo, whose employees gave her first aid and
called an ambulance.[3] Irena was admitted to the intensive care
unit of the Vradiyevka central hospital, where she was diagnosed with open
fractures of the skull, cuts and abrasions to the head and face, multiple
contusions and bruises. After some time, Krashkova was taken to the Nikolayev
neurosurgery emergency hospital, where she underwent two surgical procedures.
Physicians announced her condition to be 'serious but stable'.[4] On 27
June, 2013, a report concerning Irina Krashkova's hospitalisation was
delivered from the hospital to the front office of the Vradiyevka police
station. According to the information included in the notification, Irina
Krashkova had reported that she had been beaten and raped, and so an
investigative team was sent to the hospital. After the investigating officers
received medical documents confirming the serious condition of the victim,
criminal proceedings were instituted on charges of causing an intentional
grievous bodily harm ( Article 125 section 1 of the Criminal Code), which is
punishable by imprisonment for a term of 5 to 8 years. Also, on the basis of
the testimony given by the victim, criminal proceedings were initiated on
charges of committing robbery (Article 187, section 4 of the Criminal Code,
punishable by imprisonment for a term of 8 to 15 years with confiscation of
property) and rape (Article 152, section 3 of the Criminal Code, punishable
by imprisonment for a term of 7 to 12 years). As
the suspects are police officers, the case file was transferred to the
prosecutor's office. On 30 June, 2013, the district court granted the motion
of the prosecutor's office, ordering a measure of restraint taking the form
of 60-day detentions for two of the alleged attackers, whom the victim
had identified: Lieutenant Dmitriy Polishchuk and taxi driver, Sergei
Ryabinenko. It is worth noting that Yevgeniy Dryzhak wasn't arrested,
because, as explained the Vradiyevka District Prosecutor Sergei Mochalko, the
testimony of witnesses (colleagues of the policeman) and footage from
security cameras, proved he was in his workplace on 24-hour duty in the
police department. [5] However,
this alibi provided by the law enforcement agencies, failed to convince the
villagers. Some saw Yevgeniy Dryzhak on the evening of 26 June, 2013, in the
street and at the disco, which flew in the face of the version of the
investigators. On the same day, dozens of Vradiyevka residents gathered near
the Vradiyevka District Court (buildings of the prosecutor's office and the
police station are located in the vicinity of the court), where the hearing
regarding the imposition of a preventive measure for the two detainees:
Lieutenant Dmitriy Polishchuk and a gamekeeper Sergei Ryabinenko were being
held. They demanded that the second policeman whom the victim identified, be
arrested as well.[6] Later in the afternoon, the number
of participants of the spontaneous rally near the walls of the law
enforcement agencies increased to several hundred. Many of those present
openly declared that they were ready to lynch the perpetrators. The situation
became more aggravated when no one from among representatives of the
authorities came out to address crowd in order to explain the situation.[7] A rapid response unit 'Berkut' was
dispatched from Nikolayev to the district centre (the administrative centre
of the Nikolayev province).[8] On 1
July, 2013, at 7:00 p.m., in front of the District Department of Internal
Affairs (DDIA), a large-scale rally, attended by more than 1,000 people from
Vradievka and neighbouring communities, was held. The protesters demanded the
arrest of Yevgeniy Dryzhak and the submission of an open report on the
results of the investigation carried out by the authorities.[9] The head of the DDIA, Vitaliy Sinitskiy,
came out to address the crowd and announced that the police captain had an
alibi. However, after the suspect allegedly looked through the window, some
people began to throw eggs and stones in the direction of the district
department, and others rushed toward the front door. In response, the police
used tear gas and began to shoot.[10] Later, protesters broke into the
courtyard of the office building and began to cause damage to police vehicles.[11] In turn, the management of the Ministry of
Internal Affairs (MIA), through its official website, disseminated
information that the vast majority of them were in the state of alcoholic
intoxication.[12] The news was aired in an attempt to discredit
the protesters who were trying to storm the building. It was only late in the
night that the manager of the Nikolayev Regional Police Department, Valentin
Parsenyuk and deputy prosecutor of the Nikolayev Province, Dmitriy Yefymenko,
persuaded the protesters to stop the storming of the regional department and
to disperse.[13] Charges of hooliganism committed by a group of
persons were instituted in connection with the attack on the district police
station ( Article 296, section 4 of the Criminal Code, punishable by
imprisonment for a term of 3 to 7 years) and intentional damage to property
(Article 194, section 1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, punishable by
imprisonment for up to 3 years).[14] On 5 July, 2013, the Prosecutor of Nikolayev
Province, Andrey Kuris, announced that the prosecution file of these cases
will not be closed: "Protests can take many forms, but damage of property and
bodily injury are crimes that should be punished" However, the co-chairman of the Kharkiv Human Rights Group,
Yevgeniy Zakharov stated that these people should not be subjected to
prosecution, as they acted in the heat of passion caused by the unlawful
actions of police officers. [16] The
reaction of the authorities and the public On 1 July, 2013, the opposition parliamentary
faction 'UDAR' ['The Blow'] demanded sight of the report of the Minister of
Internal Affairs, Vitaliy Zakharchenko on the situation that has developed in
his department in connection with the rape of Irene Krashkova, reportedly
carried out by two policemen from Vradiyevka.[17] When reporting to the deputies of the
Supreme Council, he placed all the blame for the incident on Vitaliy
Sinitskiy and Valentin Parsenyuk. By the order of the Minister, they were
dismissed from their posts in the internal affairs department for concealment
of objective information regarding the circumstances of the crime.[18] At the same time, the leader of the parliamentary
faction 'Batkivshchina' [Motherland'] Arseniy Yatsenyuk demanded that
Vitaliy Zakharchenko also offer his resignation[19] , but in an interview for the ICTV on 6 July, 2013, the
latter announced that he was not going to do that " at a time when the ministry is undergoing
transformation". [20]On
2 July, 2013, the President of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych, made a decision to
personally supervise the investigation into the events in the Nikolayev
Province. [21] In turn, the General Prosecutor of
Ukraine, Viktor Pshonka, warned all those who protect people whose
irresponsibility led to this situation, shall be subject to
personal liability. [22] On the order of Sergey Mochalko,
prosecutor of the Vradiyevka District, was dismissed from work for 'improper
performance of functional duties'.[23] Finally,
following an identification parade on 2 July, 2013, , the Central District
Court of Nikolayev decided to arrest and detain Yevgeniy Dryzhak the
following day. He will remain in detention until 15 August, 2013. A
representative of the prosecutor of the Nikolayev Province, Anatoliy Titus,
questioned the alibi of the police captain. According to him, on the night of
the crime, the surveillance camera was recording nothing but darkness for a
sustained period because on 26 June, 2013, at approximately 11:11 p.m., the
power was cut off in the department.[24] On 5 July, 2013, Yegeniy Dryzhak's
immediate supervisor, a deputy chief of the criminal police of the Vradiyevka
DDIA, Major Mikhail Kudrinskiy, was arrested on charges of abuse of power
(Article 365, section 2 of the Criminal Code, punishable with imprisonment
for a term of 3 to 8 years). He was accused of attempting to pervert the
course of justice by concealing the participation of his subordinates in the
crime having forced Sergey Ryabinenko to testify that Dryzhak didn't rape or
beat Irina Krashkova.[25] Ukrainian and foreign observers agree that the
case of the rape of Irena Krashkova by police officers was the final straw
not only for Vradiyevka residents, but also to all citizens of the country.
Tatyana Mazur, the director of Amnesty International in Ukraine, stated that "the reaction of Vradiyevka residents clearly shows the
level of people's distrust with the current system of investigation and
punishment for crimes committed by public officials"
[26]and the authoritative newspaper Washington Post reported
that the 'case shows the
increasing feeling of resentment of Ukrainians resulting from unpunished
actions of officials and their influential friends'.
[27]Vradiyevka villagers have long complained about the local
law enforcement agencies. In private conversations with a representative of
the Foundation, they compared the work of the agencies to the activities of a
mafia organisation. One of the main principles of the criminal subculture -
covering each other's back - along with family ties manifested itself at an early
stage of the investigation of the high-profile case. Lieutenant Dmitriy
Polishchuk transpired to be the nephew of the Prosecutor of the Zavodskoy
District of Nikolayev, Sergey Polishchuk [28], and the main suspect, Captain Yevgeniy
Dryzhak - the godson of Major General Valentin Parsenyuk, the head of the
regional police force, who previously served as the chief of the Vradiyevka
District Department.[29] A member of the faction
'Batkivshchina' ['Motherland'], Lieutenant-General of the police, Gennadiy Moskal,
stated that the Interior Ministry has sought to conceal the crime by
falsifying data, which was confirmed by the fact that the official report
sent to the Supreme Council, the Administration of the President and the
Cabinet of Ministers of 01.07.2013, didn't contain a solitary mention
of the rape or the third identified accomplice in the attack: Yevgeniy
Dryzhak.[30] On 1
July, 2013, not only relatives and acquaintances of the victim, but also
persons whose relatives have also suffered violence at the hands police
officers, attempting to compel them to confess to crimes they hadn't
committed, gathered at a rally near the DDIA building. Major television
channels: 'Ukraine'[31] and 'ICTV'[32] presented stories of Grigoriy Mogilev,
whom Vradiyevka police tried to accuse of the murder of his mother, and Alina
Porkul, a 15-year-old schoolgirl who was found dead in a local pond. The dead
girl's mother refused to answer the questions of the representative of the
Open Dialog Foundation, justifying her silence with her poor health
condition. Meanwhile, On 4 July, 2013, the head of the special ministerial
committee, established in order to conduct an investigation into the abuse of
office by employees of the Vradiyevka DDIA, Vladimir Berezan stated that the
case of the rape of Irena Krashkova and the murder of Alina Porkul have been
merged into one. This means that the arrested policemen, Yevgeniy Dryzhak and
Dmitriy Polishchuk have also become suspects in the unsolved crime, committed
two years ago.[33] The
opposition has promised to protect all the protesters in Vradiyevka and sent
their representatives - Eduard Leonov (from VO 'Svoboda') [34] and Andrey Parubiy (from 'Batkivshchina')
there.[35] When reporting to members of parliament
about the results of the mission, from the rostrum of the Supreme Council,
they demanded the dismissal of the chairman of the Nikolayev Regional State
Administration, Nikolay Kruglov. On 2 July, 2013, in Kiev, near the
Presidential Administration, and in Lviv, by the Interior Ministry, protests
against police brutality in the Nikolayev Province were organised. During the
rallies, participants expressed their support for residents of Vradiyevka.[36] Similar protests were held on 9 July,
2013, in other regional centres of Ukraine: Zhytomyr, Kirovograd, Poltava,
Ternopil and Chernikhiv, under a common slogan: "The whole of Ukraine is
Vradiyevka". [37] On 7
July, 2013, the 'Vradiyevka march" was held from Vradiyevka to Kiev. Its
organisers demanded the resignation of the Minister of Internal Affairs, as
well as a "profound re-licencing" of police staff.[38] However, on 18 July, 2013, after the
demonstrators erected tents on Independence Square, police tore them down
during the night and arrested participants.[39] Seven of the nine detained activists were
fined by a court[40], and the organiser of the march - Vasiliy
Lyubarts - was sentenced to 10 days' incarceration for violating the rules of
peaceful assembly (Article 185 of the Code of Administrative Offences). The
activist went on hunger strike for the entire period of his incarceration.[41] The
Open Dialog Foundation hereby expresses its grave concern regarding the
frequent criminal offences in Ukraine, committed by employees and officials
of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. For the authorities, the case of
'Vradiyevka rapists' should become a 'point of no return', and those
suspected in the rape and beating of Irina Krashkova: Lt. Dmitriy Polishchuk,
Captain Yevgeniy Dryzhak, the gamekeeper Sergey Ryabinenko, as well as Major
Mikhail Kudrinskiy, who tried to cover up the crimes of his subordinates,
should face fair, public trial. The
Open Dialog Foundation hereby calls for the cessation of criminal proceedings
with regard to the charges of hooliganism and intentional damage to property,
instituted against protesters in Vradievka, as they provide a means by which
those accused may be subjected to further persecution. Ukraine's
government should launch a comprehensive reform of the police with the
wide-scale involvement and participation of representatives of civil society
and local authorities. The primary objective of the reform should be to
restore society's trust in law enforcement agencies, which should
be achieved by means of:
[1] http://novosti-n.mk.ua/news/read/54902.html. [2] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ieia0JJA9z4. [3] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tjl9I7RijT8&list=TLmEuObnpUQKk. [4] http://news.pn/ru/criminal/83537. [5] http://news.pn/ru/criminal/83534. [6] http://news.pn/ru/criminal/83534. [7] http://news.pn/ru/public/83541. [8] http://news.pn/ru/politics/83538. [9] http://nikvesti.com/news/politics/43451. [10] http://news.pn/ru/public/83624. [11] http://news.pn/ru/public/83625. [12] http://mvs.gov.ua/mvs/control/mykolaiv/uk/publish/article/98252. [13] http://news.pn/ru/public/83632. [14] http://mvs.gov.ua/mvs/control/main/uk/publish/article/864307. [16] http://khpg.org/index.php?id=1373554774. [17] http://news.pn/ru/criminal/83570. [18] http://mvs.gov.ua/mvs/control/main/uk/publish/article/864490. [19] http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=hoKnNkkvvSA. [20] http://novosti-n.mk.ua/news/read/55191.html. [21] http://president.gov.ua/news/28170.html. [22] http://www.gp.gov.ua/ua/news.html?_m=publications&_t=rec&id=122636&fp=30. [23] http://www.gp.gov.ua/ua/news.html?_m=publications&_t=rec&id=122583&fp=30. [25] http://novosti-n.mk.ua/news/read/55128.html. [26] http://www.amnesty.org.ua/node/570. [28] http://novosti-n.mk.ua/news/read/54948.html. [29] https://www.facebook.com/tetiana.montian/posts/391012867677367. [30] https://www.facebook.com/hennadii.moskal/posts/291575754320808. [31] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFcldRi9sd8. [32] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ieia0JJA9z4. [33] http://novosti-n.mk.ua/news/read/55088.html. [34] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kPBS7VMAgM. [35] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L51YjlEplMY. [37] https://www.facebook.com/events/483376028407541/. [38] https://www.facebook.com/events/483376028407541/. [39] http://www.bbc.co.uk/ukrainian/news/2013/07/130719_vradiivka_square_police_dt.shtml. [41] http://www.radiosvoboda.org/content/article/25053753.html. |