The infamous tale of the Ukrainian-Estonian documentary “Pit No.8,” on child labor in abandoned Donbass region mines – banned in Ukraine earlier this year by its own Ukrainian producer, who claimed it was deceitful and staged – has seen yet another dramatic twist.
The main character of the documentary 19-year old Yura Sykanov was
brutally beaten with baseball bats in his hometown Snizhne in Donetsk region.
The incident took place at the end of October, according to Kostyantyn
Ilchenko, head of the Solidarity Movement civic organization, who first learned
about it on Nov. 18 and wrote about the incident on his blog.
Yura has not left Makiivka hospital since that time, according to
Ilchenko.
“His health condition is still poor,” Ilchenko told Kyiv Post, after
talking to Yura this afternoon. “He needs steel implants to be implanted in his
jaw. This kind of surgery costs about Hr 10,000, the pre-surgical examination
Hr 1,500.”
Ilchenko’s organization and its regional branches have started
collecting money for Sykanov’s treatment and claim to have already received
about Hr 5,000. “Marianna Kaat (the Estonian co-producer of the documentary) is
expected to help as well,” Ilchenko said. “But she is not sure about the
quality of medical treatment in Ukraine,” he added.
Since the movie was shown for the first time in 2010 Sykanov’s mother was
deprived of parental rights for neglecting her children, and his younger sister
was sent to an orphanage. Criminal cases were opened against some owners of
illegal mines.
“The residents of his hometown have grown to hate him after the film was
released,” Ilchenko says. “Yura became a misfit there.”
This is not the first such case in the region, according to Ilchenko. A
civil society leader operating in Luhansk region was severely beaten with
baseball bats in 2010 after he raised concerns about illegal mines operating
there. “He’s an incapacitated person now,” Ilchenko said.
Kyiv Post staff writer
Anastasia Forina can be reached at [email protected]
For more information:
Documentary website: http://www.pitnumber8.com/
The movie can be watched here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90Cla6YaQKI
A previous Kyiv Post story on the
documentary can be read here: https://archive.kyivpost.com/guide/movies/child-coal-mining-film-banned-at-kyiv-festival-125183.html
