Ukrainian anti-government activist claims he was tortured

A Ukrainian anti-government activist was found alive after disappearing nine days ago, and his organization said he had been abducted, tortured and had an ear partially cut off before he was thrown from a car.

Dmitri Bulatov, a leader of a group of vehicle owners who have protested against president Viktor Yanukovich's government, was reported missing on January 22nd.

He resurfaced yesterday, said Katya Butko, spokeswoman for the activist group AutoMaidan, which has used cars to ferry supplies to demonstrators on Kiev's Independence Square, known as Maidan.

“They tortured him and cut off his ear,” Ms Butko said by phone last night, citing AutoMaidan members who picked up Mr Bulatov from the village of Vyshenky, where he told them he had walked after being dumped by the side of the road.

“They threw him out of a car outside of Kiev.”

The opposition says seven protesters have died, three from gunshot wounds, and a thousand have been injured in the protests trying to bring down Yanukovich’s government, while authorities have detained at least 116 on suspicion of taking part.

On January 27th, protest group EuroMaidan SOS published a list of 27 activists who had gone missing, including Mr Bulatov.

Images from Hromadske TV of Mr Bulatov in the hospital showed him in bloody clothes, with a gash covering the entire left side of his face and wounds on his hands.

Many injuries

Billionaire and former economy minister Petro Poroshenko, who supports the protests, told the television channel after visiting Mr Bulatov that "he's in strong fighting spirits. They didn't break his will."

Doctors said there’s evidence Mr Bulatov suffered a “significant” concussion and there are many injuries and signs of torture, though his life isn’t in danger, Mr Poroshenko said on Hromadske TV.

Ukrainian government officials have said police have no role in the disappearance of protesters.

Mr Yanukovich has faced calls to step down since November, when he ditched an economic integration accord with the European Union in favor of deepening ties with Russia, Ukraine's master in the former Soviet Union.

The body of opposition activist Yuri Verbitsky was found on January 22nd in a forest outside of Kiev, a day after he was abducted from a hospital where he was being treated for an eye injury incurred during clashes between protesters and police, according to a report by New York-based Human Rights Watch.

Bogdan Ovcharuk, a representative of rights group Amnesty International in Ukraine, said the fact that Mr Bulatov had been found alive meant the authorities could perform a proper investigation.

Mr Bulatov was found in the same area where opposition activist Yuri Verbitsky’s body was discovered last week, suggesting the attacks were carried out by the same group, Mr Poroshenko said on Hromadske TV.

Bloomberg