Kyiv theater director Pavel Yurov and artist Denis Grishchuk spent 70 days as hostages of the separatists led by Igor Girkin (aka Strelkov) in Sloviansk. Pavel was born in Antratsyt (Luhansk Oblast) and Denis in Donetsk. On April 25 they decided to stop and visit Sloviansk on their way from Donetsk to Kyiv. They wanted to take a look at what was happening in the city after it was captured by separatists. One carelessly spoken word later and they were taken by friends of Ponomarev [the “people’s mayor” later arrested by Strelkov], dragged to the seized SBU building, and beaten. Pavel and Denis were held in the local SBU basement for some time before Ukrainian forces freed Sloviansk [on July 5th]. During that whole time there was no information regarding their condition. A petition demanding their release was signed by well-known Russian actors and directors – Evgeniy Mironov, Ksenia Rappoport, Alexander Kalyagin, Valeriy Fokin, Mikhail Porechenkov, and Kirill Serebrennikov – but their appeal was left unanswered, like many others. Now Pavel and Denis are undergoing psychological and medical treatment in Kyiv. Pavel is waiting for an operation on his broken nose. Pavel Yurov and Denis Grishchuk told Radio Svoboda how their short journey to Sloviansk turned into a nightmare lasting more than two months.
Posted on: Mon, 11 Aug 2014 08:49:45 +0000
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