Violence against civil society activists

Violence against civil society activists In early May, in the village of Novoselovka in the Krasnolimansk area, there were two attacks on members of the Zaitsev family who live in the village. Victor Zaitsev is a farmer and chairman of the local branch of the Ukrainian organization “Enlightenment”. This educational organization is dedicated to Ukrainian culture, language and history. His wife, Natalia Zaitseva, is a teacher of Ukrainian language and literature at the local school. The Zaitsevs’ son, Nicholas, is 24 years old. On May 6th, at the school where Natalia Zaitseva works, one of her students came up to her with a Russian flag draped across his shoulders. Zaitseva made a remark to him that he should not wear such things to school; if a student wants to wear a Russian flag, they can do it outside of the classroom. On the evening of the same day, the father of the student – an active supporter of the PRD who regularly helped his associates to create blockades and checkpoints - came to the Zaitsevs’ home. He called Natalia, who was home alone at the time, out to the street and proceeded to beat her. That evening, the Zaitsevs made a statement to the police about the crime. No investigation into the incident has been made. At around 4:00 pm on May 8th, a jeep without license plates drove up to the Zaitsevs’ home. Three armed men got out and came into the yard. They were met by the owner of the home who had an axe in his hand and the dog jumped towards the men. They opened fire, hitting the dog and striking Victor Zaitsev in the ear. One of the men held the homeowner at gunpoint while the other two started to beat his wife saying, “This is for the ‘Glory of Ukraine’”, “This is for wrongly teaching our children”. The son tried to intervene to help his mother, but he was also beaten. The armed men entered the house and opened fire, shooting at the furniture, mirrors and dishes. They also smashed all the audio and video equipment. Finally, before leaving, the attackers threatened, “if you complain to anyone, our next visit will be the last.” During these events the Zaitsevs’ neighbor tried to intervene, but was grazed by a bullet in the stomach. *** During May, in the village of Alexceyev-Druzhkovka, there were two attacks on the home of a City Council deputy, business man and member of the “Enlightenment” organization, Evgeni A. Shapovalov. On the night of the 3rd to the 4th of May, unknown people threw three bottles of flammable liquid into Shapovalov’s house. Fortunately, none of the bottles came through the window – perhaps the attackers had no such intent. Two crashed against the bring wall and the third fell into the courtyard where flames broke out which the homeowner was able to extinguish. During the attack only Yevgeni, his wife and 3 ½ year old granddaughter were at home. The following day, the Shapovalov family left the Donetsk region. Five days later, on May 8th, an unmarked jeep drove up to the empty house. Three armed men marched into the courtyard and shot at the dog then tried to shoot the lock on the front door. Failing in this, they broke a window and got in. They went through the utility rooms, the basement and emerged with some items. The Shapovalovs’ neighbors watched these events, after which they called the police and demanded that they file a report. The neighbors also reported on the phone what happened to Shapovalov. When visiting Alekseyev-Druzhkovka, mission representatives of HRC “Memorial” drove to the house of Yevgeni Shapovalov and saw traces of the flammable liquid on the walls of the abandoned home. Neighbors confirmed the events described above. Download 4,92 Mb.