Rape of Iryna Krashkova

The rape of Iryna Krashkova, a 29-year-old woman, on 26 June 2013 by three men in the urban-type settlement of Vradiivka became a cause célèbre in Ukraine when anger at police for not arresting one of the suspects led to the storming of the district police department on 1 July 2013.[1]

Rape of Iryna Krashkova
Crowd near the Vradiivka Raion police department on 2 July 2013
Date30 June - 3 July 2013
Location
Vradiyivka, Ukraine
Caused byPolice brutality, refusal to bring to justice
Methodspicketing, unarmed mob assault on militsiya office
Resulted inwave of protests across the country, two main suspects were sentenced to jail eventually
Parties to the civil conflict
local residents
Svoboda
local militsiya
Berkut detachment
government officials
Number
300

The protests occurred alongside with another political protests that were taken place in Ukraine under the motto Rise up, Ukraine!.

Attack, investigation and riots

According to the then 29-year-old Iryna Krashkova on 26 June 2013 three men pulled her into a car in the village of Vradiivka and took her to the forest near the village of Syrove, where they beat and raped her.[1][2] They abandoned her there unconscious but later returned and searched the area with lanterns (according to a friend of the victim).[3] Early the next morning Krashkova crawled naked to Syrove where she was found and taken to the infirmary.[3] Krashkova was hospitalized with open fractures of the skull, wounds to the head and face, multiple bruises and hematomas.[1]

Krashkova told police investigator that she was beaten and raped by two police officers – Lt. Dmytro Polischuk and Lt. Yevhen Dryzhak (both of whom she knew by sight)[4] – and that a local taxi driver, Mykhailo Rabinenko, participated in the beating.[1][2]

Polischuk and Rabinenko were detained on 30 June. Dryzhak, according to law enforcers, had an alibi – being on duty at the police department at the time of the crime.[1] This triggered protests by Vradiivka residents who demanded Dryzhak's immediate arrest.[1] Many of the protesters suspected that the policeman was being protected by local authorities because of family connections.[5][6] On 1 July 2013 more than 500 protesters stormed the Vradiivka Raion police department, demanding the police officers involved be prosecuted.[1][2] They smashed windows, broke doors and set fire to the building.[7] In return the police used tear gas against protesters, some of whom were covered in blood.[6] There were further demonstrations in Lviv, Donetsk, and near the Presidential Administration Building in Kiev.[8][9][10][11][12]

On 2 July 2013 Dryzhak was detained.[1] General Prosecutor of Ukraine Viktor Pshonka dismissed prosecutor Serhiy Mochalko "for the improper performance of his duties of supervision over legality of the investigation by law-enforcement agencies".[13] Two senior regional police officials were also fired.[7] Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych ordered a thorough investigation and Interior Minister Vitaliy Zakharchenko was summoned to the Verkhovna Rada where the opposition called for his dismissal and the dismissal of the Governor of Mykolaiv Oblast, Mykola Kruhlov.[6][14][15][16] During the investigation the Deputy Chief of the Vradiivka police department, Major Mykhailo Kudrinskiy, was charged with concealing the crime.[17]

On 7 July 2013 a group of about a dozen people started a protest march from Vradiivka to (the capital) Kiev with plans to camp on Maidan Nezalezhnosti indefinitely until their concerns were addressed.[18] Authorities allowed the protest in the square on 18 July; police dispersed the protest on 19 July 2013.[19]

Mykhailo Dobkin, a governor of Kharkiv Oblast talks with protesters in Kharkiv

Court sentences

On 29 November 2013 a Ukrainian court sentenced Dryzhak to 15 years of imprisonment with confiscation of property and deprivation of his police rank, Polischuk to 15 years of imprisonment with confiscation of property and deprivation of his police rank, Kudrynsky to five years of imprisonment with confiscation of property and deprivation of his police rank and Rabynenko was sentenced to eleven years of imprisonment with confiscation of all property.[17]

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See also

References
  1. Mykolayiv region's prosecutors request court to arrest third suspect in Vradiivka rape case, Interfax-Ukraine (3 July 2013)
  2. Gang rape causes riots in Mykolaiv, Kyiv Post (2 July 2013)
  3. (in Ukrainian) Український бунт. Осмислений, але нещадний Ukrainian riot. Meaningful, but ruthless, Ukrayinska Pravda (3 July 2013)
  4. Police station stormed after officers accused of rape, Otago Daily Times (3 July 2013)
  5. Ukraine: two police officers named as suspects in rape case, Euronews (3 July 2013)
  6. Outrage over Ukraine police rape, The New Zealand Herald (3 July 2013)
  7. Anger over police in Ukraine gang rape, Stuff.co.nz (3 July 2013)
  8. Riots in Ukraine after policemen accused of gang rape, Euronews (2 July 2013)
  9. (in Ukrainian) Активні львів’яни вимагали покарати міліціонерів-ґвалтівників Lviv activists demanded to punish the police, rapists, Z I K (2 July 2013)
  10. (in Ukrainian) Львів’яни пікетують обласну міліцію через події у Врадіївці Lvivyans picket regional police because of events in Vradiivka, Zaxid.net (3 July 2013)
  11. (in Ukrainian) За Врадіївку: Донецькі блогери вимагають люстрації в МВС і відставки Захарченка For Vradiivka: Donetsk bloggers require lustration in the Interior Ministry and the resignation of Zakharchenko, comments. ua (3 July 2013)
  12. The protest against violence by police officers in Donetsk, UNIAN (6 July 2013)
  13. Pshonka dismisses district prosecutor in Mykolaiv region following heinous rape case, Interfax-Ukraine (2 July 2013)
  14. Rape victim Iryna Krashkova wipes away a tear, Yahoo! News Singapore (3 July 2013)
  15. Second police officer arrested in Mykolayiv rape case as top cop addresses parliament, Kyiv Post (2 July 2013)
  16. (in Ukrainian) Опозиція вимагає відставки Захарченка і звіту Пшонки The opposition demands resignation Zaharchenko and report Pshonka, Ukrayinska Pravda (3 July 2013)
  17. Court sentences defendants in Vradiivka rape case to 5 to 15 years in prison, Interfax-Ukraine (29 November 2013)
  18. Ukrainian Police-Abuse Protests Come To The Capital, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (17 July 2013)
  19. Police Disperse Protest In Kyiv, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (19 July 2013)
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