Simferopol police officers are establishing the identity and whereabouts of a person suspected of assaulting U.S. citizen Jeffrey Luebbe, who is the team leader of a European Union-funded project for Crimea, the public liaisons department of the Ukrainian Interior Ministry's main office in Crimea reported on Monday.
It posted the photos of the suspect in the beating of the American taken by a surveillance camera.
“Everyone who knows the man on the photo or possesses other reliable
information on this fact, please phone (0652) 27-55-19 or 102,” reads
the statement.
The department said that at about 6 a.m. on Saturday a man called the
police through the emergency phone line and said he was a foreign
national and had been injured in a row outside a bar in the center of
Simferopol.
Criminal proceedings were launched on the grounds of a criminal
offense under Article 296 of the Criminal Code (hooliganism), a sanction
envisaging imprisonment for two to five years.
The circumstances of the incident, including the cause of the conflict, are being established as part of the proceedings.
Luebbe said on Facebook that the sole reason for his assault was he
was in a group of friends who supported the pro-EU movement in Ukraine.
“This is what happens to you if you stand in Simferopol with a friend
who supports Euromaidan. What a shame!” Luebbe wrote, who has posted a
picture of his bruised face on Facebook.
He also wrote he was proud of his friends who, he said, express their pro-EU position fearlessly and without violence.
The EU has allocated EUR 5 million for the Diversification and
Support of Crimean Tourism project, which is supported by the Crimean
Ministry of Resorts and Tourism.
