You're reading: Clash with police after gang rape in Mykolaiv (UPDATED)

The small town of Vradiyevka in Mykolaiv Oblast swarmed with rage and indignation on the night of July 1. A mob of more than 500 attacked the district police station allegedly housing one police officer suspected of taking part in the gang rape of a young woman.

They
demanded justice for the victim, 29-year-old Iryna Krashkova, who first was
severely beaten and robbed on the night on June 26 by three men who forced her
into their car as she was heading home from a night club. She was then gang-raped
and left bleeding with severe injuries in a nearby forest.

She
accused two police officers and a civilian driver of her alleged kidnapping, beating and rape.

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Krashkova
is the second high-profile rape victim in Mykolaiv Oblast in 16 months. Last
year, the nation was outraged by the gang-rape of 18-year-old Oksana Makar. She
was set on fire and soon died of her wounds in the hospital. Three rapists, some of them relatives of authoritive local officials, were sentenced
to life, 15 and 14 years in prison.

As
she was recuperating from several surgeries
on her fractured skull, Krashkova spoke
to journalists from her hospital bed. Her face puffy and bruised, Krashkova
revealed details of the crime while lying on dirty sheets.

In
a subdued voice, she recounted how police officers Yevhen Dryzhak, Dmitry
Polishchiuk and driver Sergey Ryabinenko allegedly committed the crime. She
knew them all before the crime, and recalled seeing Dryzhak at the entrance of
night club on the same night. She said he aided her in paying the Hr 10 cover charge.

She
left separately but ran into the three on the street.

“I was on
my way home, when a car stopped, and they offered to give me a ride,” Krashkova
said, her upper lip bruised and barely moving. “I said I didn’t need a ride,
but one of them said ‘Get in,’ grabbed my hand and pulled me into the car.”

According
to Krashkova, when she attempted to exit the car when it reached her house, one
of the men said, “We know where to take you,” and they headed to the forest.
When Krashkova pleaded for her release, the men allegedly started punching her.
In the forest Dryzhak and Polishchuk, both local police officers, allegedly raped her.

“Dryzhak
raped me first. Then he told Polishchiuk, ‘Want her? Take (her),’ and he also
raped me,” she recounted.

The
third man, Ryabinenko, didn’t rape her but kept beating her all the time,
Krashkova said. Before driving away the men took her purse, her watch and one
of her gold earrings and attempted to rip her necklace off her neck.

By
dawn, Krashkova crawled out of the forest to nearby residential buildings,
begging for help. She named the alleged rapists to the police. Polishchiuk and Ryabinenko were arrested and detained behind bars on June 27, but Dryzhak claimed to have an alibi. He hasn’t been arrested until July 2.

Several
sources in Kyiv, including lawyer and civil activist Tetiana Montyan said that
Dryzhak is the godson of Valentyn Parseniuk, head of Mykolaiv Oblast police. On the morning of July 2, Interior Minister Vitaliy Zakharchenko dismissed Parseniuk from his
post.

In a parliamentary hearing on July 2, Zakharchenko said that he had also dismissed the district police chief. On the same day Prosecutor General Viktor Pshonka dismissed the district prosecutor.

Law
enforcement say Dryzhak’s alibi is airtight. According to Serhiy Mochalko, a
local prosecutor, Dryzhak had the night shift at the police station on the
night of the rape, and surveillance cameras prove that he didn’t leave the
office.

“The video
will be inspected for signs of tampering,” he was quoted by Prestupnosti.Net,
an online criminal news portal in Mykolaiv, as saying. But Krashkova told the
same news site that “This alibi is 100 percent fake.”

The
crime, and especially the alleged cover-up, caused riots in the streets of
Vradiyevka, a town of 8,600 people.

On
the evening of June 30 about 100 residents surrounded the police car that
transported suspects Polishchiuk and Ryabinenko while demanding that Dryzhak be
arrested as well.

The
next night the crowd on the street grew to 1,000 people, according to local
media reports. Police, however, gave an estimate half as high, and said most of
them were drunk.

The
mob broke windows and shattered the gates in front of the police station. The
police used tear gas to disperse the crowd, according to several witnesses, but
police denied the allegation. Four people reportedly sought medical treatment
at a local hospital after being wounded in the crowd.

In
the meantime, Mykolaiv Oblast Deputy Prosecutor Dmytro Yefimenko said on July 1
that Ryabinenko, the civilian driver and gamekeeper, confessed to the rape and beating, despite
the fact that the victim said he did not take part in the gang rape.

The
prosecutor also said that Ryabinenko denied that Dryzhak was with him, naming
Polishchiuk as his only accomplice. Police officer Polishchiuk, the nephew
of a local prosecutor, continues to deny the charges.

“The
Prosecutor’s Office can’t be responsible for all the relatives of prosecutors,”
Yefimenko told local media, adding that there is no pressure from Polishchiuk’s relatives.

[Editor’s note: An earlier version of this article incorrectly said that the police station was housing two police officers accused of taking part in the gang rape.]