Drenched with acid 33-year-old Ukrainian activist died in hospital

Known Kherson social activist Yekaterina Gandzyuk, who spoke out against corruption, died in a hospital in Kiev three months after the attack against her.

Photo: facebook.com/uakateryna

On July 31, unknown persons attacked an 33-year-old activist in Kherson, pouring concentrated sulfuric acid over. She received burns over 40% body, as well as serious damage to the eyes, writes Air force.

Over the past three months, Ekaterina Gandziuk, who served as a deputy of the city council and advisor to the mayor of Kherson, underwent 11 operations in a hospital in Kiev.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko called for the punishment of her murderers. Five suspects in this case are in custody.

The criminal case, which has still been investigated under the article on attempted murder, after the death of the activist on Sunday, was re-qualified for contract-based intentional murder.

The exact cause of the death of the activist has not yet been reported, but the Ukrainian media report that death could have been caused by a thrombus.

Shortly after the attempt, Catherine gave a short interview. Photo: YouTube / ZIK frame

In September, Gandzyuk, who also opposed Russian-backed separatism in eastern Ukraine, published a video on social networks calling on Ukrainians to fight widespread corruption.

The news of the death of the activist caused a flurry of reactions in the Ukrainian social networks. Many users express shock from what happened.

The US Embassy in Kiev called on the authorities to punish the perpetrators and customers of the murder of Yekaterina Gandzyuk. Sunday evening, several hundred people gathered for a rally outside the building of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine in Kiev.

According to media reports, people came with candles, photos and posters with the words “She was killed” and “Who ordered the murder?” At the beginning of the action, participants held a minute of silence in memory of Handzyuk. The main demand of those gathered is an objective investigation of the crime.

Who is Ekaterina Gandzyuk

Ekaterina Gandzyuk participated in the Orange Revolution, the Euromaidan in Kherson, previously worked in public organizations, as well as the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in the Kherson region.

Photo: facebook.com/uakateryna

In 2014, Handzyuk worked in the election headquarters of Vladimir Nikolaenko, who was a candidate for mayor of Kherson from the Batkivshchyna party. After winning the elections in 2015, Nikolaenko left the party. Ekaterina Handzyuk also left Batkivshchyna.

Before the attack, the activist worked in the Kherson City Council as acting manager of the executive committee of the Kherson city council, and was also an adviser to the mayor of the city, Vladimir Nikolayenko.

Active criticism

Ekaterina Gandzyuk is known for her criticism of law enforcement agencies and representatives of local authorities, who at times acquired rather sharp forms.

The activist’s friends point out that Handzyuk had two main “directions” in which she had principled opponents: countering “pro-Russian movements” in Kherson, as well as the fight against corruption in the local police.

She, along with other activists, actively opposed “pro-Russian forces” in the region, especially during attempts to organize the so-called “Russian Spring” in southern Ukraine in 2014. Handzyuk harshly criticized the security forces for their inaction in the fight against pro-Russian and separatist groups in the region.

Ekaterina Gandzyuk had a conflict with the head of the Department for the Protection of the Economy in the Kherson region of the Department for the Protection of the Economy of the National Police of Ukraine Artem Antoshchuk.

In September, 2017, she accused Antoshchuk of corruption. Artem Antoshchuk filed a lawsuit against Gandziuk for the protection of honor and dignity, but the Kherson city court rejected most of his claims. In the Kherson region in relation to Antoshchuk conducted a service check, but its results were not made public.

Photo: facebook.com/uakateryna

Repeatedly, Gandzyuk criticized the activities of law enforcement agencies in investigating attacks on public activists.

In April, 2018, Ekaterina Gandzyuk, said that almost 200 fake journalists received permission from the regional police for traumatic and gas weapons in 2014-2018.

Handzyuk also criticized the head of the Kherson regional state administration and accused him of organizing “titushki” against opponents of deforestation in the region.

She criticized the authorities for the weak opposition of information aggression from Russia, including directly those who are responsible for this direction.

In Khmelnytsky, activists held a rally #EyBroken up near the police building

Attack on Gandzyuk

31 July attacker poured activist with concentrated sulfuric acid near her house. Acid got on the head, face, back, arms, legs and part of the chest.

The victim was taken to a local hospital, but subsequently transferred to a medical facility in Kiev, where she was under police protection.

People's Deputies of Ukraine require an urgent discussion on the establishment of a commission that investigates the murder of Gandzyuk

Law enforcement officers changed the classification of the attack several times: first, hooliganism, then causing grievous bodily harm, and subsequently, after confirming that Handzyuk was doused with concentrated sulfuric acid, attempted murder with particular cruelty.

Now the crime is classified as premeditated murder committed by a group of persons, for mercenary reasons, with special cruelty, by request.

Action in memory of Katerina Gandzyuk in Lviv

At first, the police said that Nikolay Novikov was the perpetrator of the attack on the activist, but on August 22 he was released, saying that he was not involved in the attack.

Later, law enforcement officers detained five suspects in the attempt on the life of Ekaterina Handzyuk. Among them are the alleged organizer, accomplices, performer and driver. All of them, according to investigators, are former Ukrainian soldiers who fought in the east of the country.

Protest actions with demands to protect civil society and activists are held throughout Ukraine

On October 19, the first deputy chairman of the National Police of Ukraine, Vyacheslav Abroskin, said that the investigation was considering two main versions of the attack: professional activity of Yekaterina Gandzyuk, as well as an active citizenship, her social and political activities as an activist.

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