Former political prisoner Volodymyr Balukh says he was beaten at the TRC. The police are investigating the situation, and the TRC denies all allegations.
The first to write about the beating of Balukh was Volodymyr Aryev, an MP from the “European Solidarity” party. According to him, Balukh, who has a group II disability, was taken to the TRC on March 19 after the trial of Roman Chervinsky due to an incorrectly registered disability. He claims that the former political prisoner was beaten on the head in the TRC premises, and then kept in handcuffs all night.
The Kyiv TRC confirmed that Balukh was taken to the center for violating military registration. They say that there was no information in the registers about his being in captivity, and he did not have the right to a deferment, so he was sent to the MMC.
In the end, information was pulled from other registers that he had a disability, but Balukh, as the TRC says, did not issue a deferral. He was served a summons demanding to update his data and released. The TRC assures that the veteran was not beaten or kept in handcuffs, and he himself did not write any complaints.
Meanwhile, Kyiv police said they were investigating reports of the beating of Balukh, who is currently in the hospital. Police were sent to the hospital to take a statement.
Balukh himself, in a comment to Suspilne Crimea, said that he had a bruised chest and shoulder.
"The prosecutor filed a complaint against me in the Chervinsky case — allegedly I insulted him with an obscene word, and they invited me to give an explanation at the Pechersky district police station. I arrived, gave an explanation, and after that, at the exit, literally two meters away, there was a van — they pushed me into it and took me to the TRC, saying that I was allegedly wanted. Everyone was in military uniform, but no one gave their names and no one showed any documents," he said.
According to Balukh, law enforcement officers took a statement from him.
- Volodymyr Balukh is a Ukrainian public activist and political prisoner. After the occupation of Crimea in 2014, he remained a citizen of Ukraine, refusing to receive a Russian passport and leave the peninsula.
- In August 2017, the Russians people sentenced Balukh to three and a half years in prison, accusing him of "storing ammunition". The sentence was later overturned and he was sentenced again — now to 3 years and 7 months in a penal colony and a fine of RUB 10 000.
- Balukh was returned to Ukraine in a major exchange in September 2019. After his release, he spoke about systematic torture in Russian prisons.
For more news and in-depth stories from Ukraine, please follow us on X.