Three stories about the breathtakingly heinous gang rape, torture and burning of Oksana Makar — an 18-year-old Mykolaiv woman who died from her injuries in March — took the No. 1, No. 4 and No. 5 spots. 

The unusual senselessness and brutality of the crime — she was choked, burned alive and dumped in a construction site — left humanity shocked and horrified. Three men were convicted of the crime and sentenced to long prison terms, but not life in prison.

The story was gripping for many reasons, including the mindlessness of the convicted murderers. It was captured in a video in which one of the suspects describes picking up Makar in a bar and inviting her the apartment of one of the men. She was gang-raped during a night of drinking, then assaulted further in an attempt to cover-up the crime. The suspect’s videotaped confession to police — leaked and posted on the Internet — was marked by lack of emotion and lack of intelligence.

A stirring and poignant video of Makar also surfaced during the three weeks in which she clung to life. She had suffered burns on more than 50 percent of her body in the attack, forcing doctors to amputate the woman’s feet and one arm. Her internal organs were damaged, including her kidneys, and she died from bleeding in the lungs after the March 8 assault.

She told her mother on camera in the hospital that she wanted the men responsible castrated and imprisoned.

The story did not go away, even after Makar’s death and her assailants’ conviction. Reports recently surfaced that implied her mother may have led her underage daughter into prostitution, charges the mother denied. Other allegations also surfaced that the mother kept large financial donations meant to pay for her daughter’s numerous surgeries, accusations also denied by the mother in a TV interview.

Whatever the truth, the poor young woman had a terrible life and death. She will not be forgotten soon, I would hope, and the circumstances of her death forced many Ukrainians to examine the culture in which such a crime could take place. It made me wish even more fervently that heaven truly exists, and that God is giving Makar the love, tenderness and care denied her in life.

Happier stories on the top 10 list included Denis Rafalsky’s story on couples seeking to stimulate their love lives by getting erotic massages together. No. 6 was again about sex — an Interfax-Ukraine story about a Femen activist who went topless on an al-Jazeera news program — a no-no for many of the station’s Arab viewers. 

Svitlana Tuchynska also rounded out the top 10 with her story on 22 fun facts about Ukraine, which ran during the Euro 2012 football championships last summer.  The No. 7 story combined Euro 2012 and sex — Oksana Grytsenko’s story about dejected prostitutes who had expected the thousands of foreign tourist soccer fans to be more interested in paying for sex.

Every top 10 list has at least one political story, and our constantly updated vote count of Ukraine’s Oct. 28 parliamentary election hit the No. 3 spot.

The No. 8 spot was just a freaky but fun story — Olga Rudenko’s account of the two women in Odesa who have changed their appearance to look like living Barbie dolls. The women have become international sensations.

And violence, the police identification of the suspect in the shooting of three security guards in Kyiv’s Karavan shopping center, took the No. 9 position.

In the most commented categories, Kyiv Post CEO Michael Willard and yours truly, chief editor Brian Bonner, took the No. 1 and No. 4 spots respectively. Willard wrote about the need to police online comments on the Kyiv Post website, while I hailed the reelection of U.S. President Barack Obama. That earned me the wrath of many Republicans.

Thanks to the readers. The Kyiv Post had a record number of hits this year — more than 8.8 million, or an average of 733,000 per month — since the newspaper launched its website in 2002.

Here are links to all the top 10 most read and commented stories.

Most read:

Mykolayiv gang rape, burn victim Oksana Makar dies in hospital (VIDEOS)

Couples find joys of erotic massage

Results of the vote count

Gang rape, attempted murder outrage Ukraine

Mykolaiv 18-year-old victim of grisly rape dies in Ukraine (Updated)

FEMEN activist takes tops off on live Al Jazeera program

Euro 2012 blog: Prostitutes disappointed with football fans

Living dolls walk streets of Odesa

Police identify suspect in killing security guards in Kyiv’s Karavan

22 fun facts about Ukraine

Most commented:

Back Story: Go ahead, call me a dinosaur

Svoboda dismisses allegations of anti-Semitism

Thousands take part in Holodomor Remembrance Day march in Kyiv

Obama wins, so let’s celebrate then get back to work

Parking of vehicles in Kyiv’s center to be temporarily banned

Good News Ukraine blog

Financial Times: US crop producers eye Ukraine market

Why the word ‘zhyd’ stirs fighting in Ukraine

Anti-Semitism’s rise in Ukraine

Street Children Brace For Winter

Kyiv Post chief editor Brian Bonner can be reached at [email protected]