11:33 24.02.2017

Separatists intending to kidnap and mutilate Honcharenko detained in Odesa

2 min read
Separatists intending to kidnap and mutilate Honcharenko detained in Odesa

Law enforcement officers of Odesa region prevented the abduction to inflict grievous bodily harm to deputy head of the Petro Poroshenko Bloc parliamentary faction Oleksiy Honcharenko and detained the organizers and perpetrators of this crime.

Odesa region prosecutor Oleh Zhuchenko and head of the SBU in the Odesa region Serhiy Batrakov said at an emergency press briefing in Odesa on Thursday that security forces have found a criminal group which was engaged in the manufacture and distribution of campaign materials of separatist slant.

"Now we are conducting six searches in Odesa. All members of this group have been identified," Batrakov said, adding that during the searches pamphlets of anti-Ukrainian content were seized aimed at promoting ethnic hatred.

Zhuchenko said that law enforcers have established and documented "involvement of this group to the fact of infringement on life and health of the people's deputy Oleksiy Honcharenko."

Batrakov said that the kidnapping of the people's deputy was planned with the aim of inflicting bodily harm, not to kill him.

According to Zhuchenko, criminals who organized and tried to carry out the kidnapping of Honcharenko, intended to cause him serious bodily injury, in particular, to blind him on February 23 because they thought such an act is symbolic on this date.

"The father of Kushnariov [who passed away on May 2, 2014 in Odesa] is a deputy of Lymansky Regional Council of Odesa region, and this is he, who is not only the paymaster of the MP's abduction, but he, with two his accomplices went to the scene and had to cause serious bodily injuries to the people's deputy, namely to apply acid to disfigure his face, blind him and break his kneecaps," the prosecutor of Odesa region said.

According to Batrakov, lawbreakers were able to implement this kidnapping, but they were detained during their arrival at the crime scene. "During the arrest evidence were seized, namely an acid bottle and a hammer. They personally came to the place designated for the victim's capture wearing balaclavas, so that it would be impossible to identify them," Batrakov said.

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