You're reading: Vlasenko blames Party of Regions for the ‘green’ assault

With a tint of green in his hair and under his fingernails, and an infected eye, Serhiy Vlasenko is sitting in his office reflecting on an assault the day before. On July 17, an unidentified woman threw half a liter of brilliant green liquid antiseptic into his face, making him look like a human version of Shrek.

“This was
not hooliganism,” he says. “Had I not been wearing glasses, I would be blind by
now.”

Perhaps,
he’s overdramatizing. Doctors say that alcohol-based brilliant green can cause
a mild chemical burn of the eyes, but not full blindness. If the infection is
really bad, in the long term it can potentially develop into a cataract, a
curable condition that can cause partial or full blindness.

Vlasenko
does not need to overdramatize, though, as his life is not lacking excitement.
He is the chief defense lawyer for Yulia Tymoshenko, the jailed former prime
minister who was sentenced to seven years in prison in a trial the West had
condemned as politically motivated.

Vlasenko
has appealed the verdict.

He is a
frequent target of insults and attacks, both physical and verbal. The first
attempt to shove brilliant green at him was on July 13, also in Kharkiv.

The
successful assault on Vlasenko took place shortly before he was due to see
Tymoshenko in a hospital in Kharkiv, where she is being treated for spine
hernia, a painful back condition, under the watch of a German doctor.

Still
sniffling from irritation of the nose, Vlasenko recalls that the female
attacker came close, possibly standing just one meter away. She confirmed his
identification by asking his name, and then suddenly pulled out a bottle of
brilliant green, an antiseptic commonly used in Ukraine to treat wounds, to
throw into his face.

He says his
team on the ground in Kharkiv helped him identify the suspect of the attack. He
points the blame at Maria Stolyarova, a local activist from Young Regions, the
youth wing of the Party of Regions.

Anastasiya
Kobets, head of the Young Regions in Kharkiv, said that she feels “endless
indignation”  because of the accusations
of the opposition towards the youths in her organization.

“These
people have simply run out of ways to attract attention,” she said. She
confirmed, however, that Stolyarova is one of the activists of her organization,
but says she has been unable to reach her by phone for two days – possibly
because the woman is away for a holiday.

Gennadiy
Kernes, the mayor of Kharkiv, went a step further in his official statement on
July 16 and accused Vlasenko of pouring the antiseptic over himself.

“I
understand that on July 15 Kharkiv had a record breaking temperature of 35.1
degrees [Celsius]. But this does not give you an excuse the very next day to
pour the brilliant green over yourself,” Kernes said. “This was an act of
self-PR to attract attention.”

Vlasenko
says the statement is absurd, and says he had registered an oral complaint with
the Kharkiv police on the day of the incident. He also says he plans to file a
written report today to either the general prosecutor, or the interior minister,
over the incident, and will demand investigation. The addressee will depend on
how he decides to qualify the crime, he says. Most likely, he will qualify it
as an attempt to inflict bodily injuries.

He traces
the incident back to Viktor Yanukovych, the arch-enemy of Tymoshenko. “I am not
saying that Yanukovych gave a personal order to the girl. But Yanukovych
blessed this lawlessness towards those who work on Tymoshenko’s team,” he says.

Nevertheless,
Vlasenko retains a degree of humor about the assault, and is prepared to share
his experience when it comes to washing off the brilliant green, which is
notoriously difficult to get rid of.

“Regular
water and soap is not bad, but you’ve got to use gauze and rub hard,” he says.
“But the best thing to use is those medical wipes with alcohol.” He says it
took him 45 minutes to wash off most of the color.

Kyiv Post editor Katya Gorchsinskaya can be reached
at
[email protected]

Video of the ‘green’ assault can be viewed herehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHC87X3XAOI