Police in Kherson confirmed Dec. 1 they are investigating allegations that local police officers last month abused a male U.S. Peace Corps volunteer, prompting his evacuation to the United States, where he remains.
A second volunteer, a woman who was detained simultaneously with her male colleague, likewise claimed police officers assaulted her as she was being detained, according to Peace Corps volunteers familiar with the incident.
The two volunteers, a man and a woman, had just arrived by train in Kherson, a city of 350,000 in Ukraine’s south, when they were picked up by police on charges of public drunkenness and because they lacked sufficient documents. The male victim claimed that he was raped by officers, and the female victim told friends she fought off an attack by police while she was held in a cell, according to a former volunteer who had spoken with both victims several times in the days following the alleged attack. He spoke on condition of anonymity.
The pair was being held in separate quarters when the events unfolded, and neither witnessed the attack on the other.
A Peace Corps spokesman in Washington D.C. said the agency was trying to sort out what happened. Jaroslav Dutkewych, country director of Peace Corps Ukraine, refused to comment on the case.
The Kherson prosecutor in charge of the internal investigation confirmed that officers picked up the pair and took them to a dry-out center, but said he wasn’t sure exactly what happened next.
‘I know that two Americans were picked up by the police … and that our police officers took them to the de-tox tank,’ Leonid Karpenko, Kherson police internal affairs prosecutor, told the Post by phone. ‘Past that, what happened next to whom, who did what, I have no idea. That’s what the investigation is for.’
The volunteers, whose names are being withheld because they are alleged sexual abuse victims, drew police attention shortly after their arrival in Kherson about 10 p.m. They fell down and were laughing loudly, three local police sources told the Post.
‘The police were performing their official duties in accordance with the law when they detained the two Americans,’ Anatoly Kortyniuk, desk sergeant in Kherson’s Suvorovsky region told the Post. ‘They [the Peace Corps volunteers] gave the police full reason to stop them.’
Repeated attempts by the Post to reach the two volunteers were unsuccessful. However, according to Peace Corps policy, all statements to the media must be approved in advance by the Peace Corp country director.
U.S. Embassy spokesman Peter Sawchyn said the agency is aware of the incident.
‘The safety and well-being of Americans residing in Ukraine is always a matter of great concern to the embassy,’ he said, quoting a prepared written statement. ‘We have been in contact with the appropriate Ukrainian officials to clarify exactly what happened. It would not be appropriate to comment further until we have completed our inquiries.’
Kortyniuk and Karpenko said they had heard parts of the story, including rape allegations, but could not confirm them.
‘I’ve heard all sorts of stories, but the fact is, we don’t know what happened inside [the de-tox tank],’ Karpenko said. ‘That’s my job, to talk to all the people involved and figure out what happened.’
Karpenko said he expected to complete his investigation by Dec. 6.
Daily ????? also said it was not a clear-cut case. ‘There are conflicting stories as to what happened,’ he said. ‘Because of medical confidentiality, I can’t really go into details.’
Police released the man and the woman to a Kherson acquaintance on Nov. 21.
According to one report, the male victim was wrapped in a blanket and was wearing only his underwear and shoes when he was released.
Brendan Daily, Peace Corps spokesman in Washington DC, said the male volunteer was evacuated from Ukraine to a Washington area medical facility and is currently undergoing counseling.
On Nov. 22, the woman traveled to Zaporizhia, where she works as a volunteer at a local educational institute. The Post was unable to contact her, but an institute co-worker said the Peace Corps was bringing her to Kyiv on Dec. 1.
Ihor Reva, Managing Editor of Naddnieprskaya Pravda, Kherson’s largest newspaper, told the Post by phone that he was aware of written statements made by the two Americans concerning police treatment during their stay in the de-tox tank. According to Reva, both signed documents stating that Kherson police had behaved correctly, and that nothing out of the ordinary took place. ‘They were picked up for being drunk, and then released,’ Reva said. ‘The police have proof nothing happened.’
It was not clear why they were asked to sign the documents or whether their Ukrainian language skills were sufficient to understand the documents.
The Post was unable to confirm the existence of the statements. Such documents are commonly used by Ukrainian police to protect themselves from charges of misbehavior.
Peace Corps officials were apparently rattled by media interest in the case.
Daily said the Kyiv Post’s inquiries had been brought to his attention. ‘Peace Corps staff in Ukraine are concerned,’ he said. ‘They are concerned that if [accusations are made] against the [police], then there might be repercussions against our volunteers generally.’
This is not the first serious incident to hit Peace Corps volunteers in Ukraine recently. In the past 15 months, two volunteers have died under unusual circumstances.
On Sept. 14, 1998, Victor Verloo, a 64-year-old volunteer was stabbed to death in his Chernihiv apartment. Police arrested 33-year-old Volodymyr Mynko a week later in Mykolaiv in southern Ukraine. Mynko was charged with pre-meditated murder in November and convicted in February.
On July 8, 27-year-old Brian Krow was found dead under a Cherkasy foot bridge. He was a volunteer in training and had arrived in the country only a month before he died. His death was ruled a suicide.
Post Staff Writer Evgenia Mussuri and reporter Alan Gustafson from Gannett News Service in the United States contributed to this report.
