Murdered politician in Ukraine suffered 'many knife wounds': widow
Donetsk (Ukraine) (AFP) - A local politician whose mutilated body was found near a rebel-held town in east Ukraine suffered many knife wounds, his anguished widow said Wednesday after identifying his body.
Volodymyr Rybak, a local councillor from the pro-Western party of Ukraine's acting president, Oleksandr Turchynov, was found on the weekend along with another male corpse weighted down in a river close to the town of Slavyansk.
The discovery prompted Turchynov to order a new military offensive against the rebels, whom he blamed for the killing and "brutal torture".
"There was a large number of knife wounds -- it was awful," Rybak's widow Yelena told journalists in the main eastern hub of Donetsk after viewing her husband's body.
The separatists have denied any role in his killing.
Rybak's Fatherland Party said he would be buried on Friday, after an autopsy in Donetsk.
The last time Rybak was seen he was reportedly arguing with camouflaged men, trying to get them to take down a separatist flag from a seized building near Donetsk.
- Pro-Russians 'aggressive' -
Although the circumstances and perpetrators of Rybak's killing have not been elucidated, many in east Ukraine complain that standing up to the separatist push in the region is risky.
For instance, in the southeast port city of Mariupol, history student Denis Minin said the ribbon with the yellow-and-blue colours of the Ukrainian flag tied to his satchel could land him in serious trouble.
"Some of these pro-Russian guys are very aggressive. When they see the Ukrainian colours they can start threatening you and saying they'll beat you up," Minin told AFP.
Undeterred, Minin set about helping organise a rally Wednesday in his Black Sea hometown -- scene of a deadly clash last week that left three separatists dead -- where some 1,000 local residents gathered to voice opposition to the masked pro-Moscow rebels who have seized state buildings here and elsewhere across Ukraine's east.
Under police protection, Minin's pro-Kiev demonstration passed off peacefully, with flag-waving pensioners and families basking in the spring sun.
- Split loyalties in region -
Those who support Kiev here argue that the capture of buildings by armed rebels has given the false impression that the region is a hotbed of pro-Russian militancy.
But a recent poll by Kiev's Institute for International Sociology said that despite deep historical and cultural links to Moscow almost 70 percent of people across Russian-speaking eastern Ukraine are against joining their giant neighbour.
While many are wary of the new government in Kiev that came to power after the ouster of pro-Kremlin leader Viktor Yanukovych in February, even in the Donetsk region only 27.5 percent favour rule from Ukraine's former Soviet master Moscow.
The divisions though are deep, and those facing off against Kiev say they are really the ones risking persecution and violence.
Standing in front of the barbed-wire and tyre barricade surrounding Mariupol's occupied town hall, local separatist leader Denis Kuzmenko points to the government's announcement Tuesday that it was restarting its "anti-terrorist" operation against the rebels.
"They say we're terrorists but they need to check the definition of the term," Kuzmenko said, standing in front of the pictures of three separatist rebels shot when authorities claim 300 armed assailants attacked an interior ministry base here last week.
"We are peaceful people without weapons."
Back at the pro-Kiev rally across town those who have plucked up the courage to come say they just want to make their voice heard.
"It is absurd that I can't walk around my own town with symbols of my own country," said student Yelena Rostovskaya.
For pensioner Vitaly Voronin the issue is simple.
"A majority of people support the unity of Ukraine," Voronin said.
"The difference is that those on the other side are armed and we're not."
