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HRW Calls For Investigation Into Ukrainian Police Beatings, Attacks


Ukrainian riot police arrest protesters in the center of Kyiv during clashes on January 22.
Ukrainian riot police arrest protesters in the center of Kyiv during clashes on January 22.
The New York-based watchdog Human Rights Watch has called for an investigation into police beatings and other brutal attacks amid the ongoing unrest in Ukraine.

In a statement on January 24, HRW accused riot police of brutally beating several people, including a 17-year-old, after detaining them on January 20 during a standoff in Kyiv.

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Yulia Gorbunova, HRW's Ukraine researcher, said the treatment of Mikhailo Niskoguz -- who was beaten, stripped naked, and humiliated -- amounted to "torture."

HRW also called for an independent investigation into the abduction of two activists, Ihor Lutsenko and Yuriy Verbytsky.

Lutsenko was later dumped, alive, in a forest after enduring what he described as at least three mock executions.

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Verbytsky's body was found in a forest outside Kyiv and showed signs of torture.

HRW says several factors point to the possibility that the abductors were in collusion with law enforcement and security services.
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