Volodymyr Rybak (murder victim)
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]
Biography[edit]
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.[3] 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.[3] During the 2012 Ukrainian parliamentary election, he ran for the Ukrainian parliament at the 52nd electoral district placing 4th with 3,332 votes.
Rybak was an active supporter of the 2013-2014 Euromaidan protest.[3]
Rybak was abducted by separatists on 17 April 2014 after trying to raise the flag of Ukraine on Horlivka's town council building.[4] Later his body with signs of torture was found in the River Torets, along with other two bodies.[4] 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.[4] The two other victims were Kyiv Polytechnic Institute student Yuriy Popravka and 25-year-old Yuriy Diakovsky.[4]
In 2015 a memorial plaque was placed in Sloviansk after its liberation from Russian forces.[5]
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 was involved in 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".[6]
References[edit]
- ^ "'Murdered' Ukraine politician faced hostile mob, video shows". Reuters. 2014-04-23. Retrieved 2014-11-03.
- ^ "Ukraine alert as politician killed". BBC. 2014-04-22. Retrieved 2014-11-03.
- ^ a b c (in Ukrainian) In memory of the Heroes of the Heavenly Hundred: normal Volodymyr Rybak, Ukrayinska Pravda (12 September 2020)
- ^ a b c d Poroshenko: Street in free Horlivka to carry tortured Ukrainian activist's name, UNIAN (17 April 2016)
- ^ "Remembering Volodymyr Rybak: a year since the murder". EMPR: Russia - Ukraine war news, latest Ukraine updates. 2015-04-18. Retrieved 2020-04-18.
- ^ "Гиркин признался в убийстве трех украинцев". gordonua.com. 18 May 2020. Retrieved 27 May 2020.
External links[edit]
- Biography politrada.com
- Biography at the Horlivka city portal
- Volodymyr Rybak speaks frankly: Cops are jackasses, mayor - a puppet, communists - traitors. Horlivka city portal
- Chronology of brutal murder of Rybak that happened in Sloviansk. Broadcasting Service of News (TSN).
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- 1971 births
- 2014 deaths
- People from Horlivka
- Donetsk National Technical University alumni
- Interregional Academy of Personnel Management alumni
- All-Ukrainian Union "Fatherland" politicians
- People of the 2014 pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine
- Ukrainian victims of human rights abuses
- Ukrainian torture victims
- Ukrainian people taken hostage
- Pro-Ukrainian people of the war in Donbass
- Recipients of the Order of Gold Star (Ukraine)
- People murdered in Ukraine
- Ukrainian people stubs