Judicial crackdown on protesters
KYIV — The Ukrainian government launched legal proceedings against Dmytro Bulatov, an anti-government protester who said he was abducted and tortured, for his involvement in mass protests, the Internal Affairs Ministry said yesterday. Ukrainian officials are seeking to place Bulatov under house arrest after the activist, who had disappeared for seven days, re-emerged on Thursday and said unknown captors had kept him in a dark room and partly cut off his ear. The 35-year-old is under surveillance by state police at the hospital where he is receiving medical treatment with officials saying it is for his own protection, local media reported. A fourth was found dead with signs of torture after he had been taken from a hospital.
Bulatov’s disappearance caused significant outrage on the international stage with EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton describing his treatment as “completely unacceptable.” The investigation into Bulatov is considered further evidence of the Ukrainian government’s crackdown on protesters. The state police are also investigating what they called an attempted coup in connection with the protests held by the opposition since November. The Ukrainian Security Service assembled evidence in the investigation during a December raid on the offices of the party of jailed opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko, SBU officer Maxim Lenko said on Friday night on television. — DPA