Volodymyr Rybak (murder victim)

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For the former chairman of the Verkhovna Rada, see Volodymyr Vasylyovych Rybak.

Volodymyr Rybak (30 November 1971 – c. 17 April 2014) was a Ukrainian politician, representative of the Horlivka city council, kidnapped[1] and then murdered by the pro-Russian militia on 17 April 2014.[2] It was one of the first war crimes committed by pro-Russian forces during the Russo-Ukrainian War.[3]

Biography

Rybak was born in the city of Horlivka in 1971. In 1995 he graduated the Automobile Highway Institute of the Donetsk National Technical University and in 2002 – the Interregional Academy of Personnel Management.

In 1995–2009 Rybak worked in the division of Criminal Investigation for the Horlivka city militsiya.[4] In 2009 he joined the All-Ukrainian Association Fatherland (Batkivshchyna) and next year headed its city's party cell.

Since November 2010 Rybak was a member of the Horlivka city council.[4] During the 2012 Ukrainian parliamentary election, as a Batkivshchyna candidate, he ran for the Ukrainian parliament at the 41st electoral district (the Budonivskyi District of Donetsk) placing 4th with 5,195 votes (4.55%, winner Bobkov Oleksandr [uk; ru] of the Party of Regions won the district with 80.85% of the votes).[5]

Rybak was an active supporter of the 2013–2014 Euromaidan protest.[4]

Rybak was abducted by separatists on 17 April 2014 after trying to raise the flag of Ukraine on Horlivka's town council building.[6] Later his body with signs of torture was found in the River Torets, along with other two bodies.[6] According to forensic reports, the victims were drowned being still alive and their bodies were covered with burns and stabs and their stomachs ripped open.[6] The two other victims were Kyiv Polytechnic Institute student Yuriy Popravka and 25-year-old Yuriy Diakovsky.[6]

In 2015 a memorial plaque was placed in Sloviansk after its liberation from Russian forces.[7]

In May 2020 Igor Strelkov, a key organizer of the Donetsk People's Republic's militant groups confessed in an interview with Ukrainian journalist Dmitry Gordon that he bore some responsibility for the killing of Rybak: "Naturally, Rybak, as a person who actively opposed the "militias", was an enemy in my eyes. And his death, probably, is to some extent also under my responsibility".[8]

References

  1. ^ "'Murdered' Ukraine politician faced hostile mob, video shows". Reuters. 23 April 2014. Retrieved 3 November 2014.
  2. ^ "Ukraine alert as politician killed". BBC. 22 April 2014. Retrieved 3 November 2014.
  3. ^ "Tortured to death for defending Ukraine. The first war crimes Russia brought to Donbas". Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group. 17 April 2019. Retrieved 3 March 2022.
  4. ^ a b c (in Ukrainian) In memory of the Heroes of the Heavenly Hundred: normal Volodymyr Rybak, Ukrayinska Pravda (12 September 2020)
  5. ^ "Електоральна пам'ять". ukr.vote.
  6. ^ a b c d Poroshenko: Street in free Horlivka to carry tortured Ukrainian activist's name, UNIAN (17 April 2016)
  7. ^ "Remembering Volodymyr Rybak: a year since the murder". EMPR: Russia – Ukraine war news, latest Ukraine updates. 18 April 2015. Retrieved 18 April 2020.
  8. ^ "Гиркин признался в убийстве трех украинцев". gordonua.com. 18 May 2020. Retrieved 27 May 2020.

External links


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