Two EuroMaidan activists missing; foul play suspected

However, Kyiv police dispute the allegation,
saying that the two men were seen exiting the hospital on their own.

Lebedeva said Lutsenko, 35, who wasn’t acquainted with
Verbytsky, drove him to the hospital to get treated for injuries suffered in
clashes with police on Hrushevskoho Street.

When Verbytsky, 51, was accepted to the ophthalmology
department at the clinic, Lutsenko was kidnapped while waiting in the hallway.
Soon after, Verbytsky was carried off, she said.

“The doctors heard some noise in the hall, and then
suddenly around five young men similarly dressed in black hats and coats burst
into the doctor’s room and captured Verbytsky. Lutsenko was abducted a minute
before Verbytsky,” Lebedeva said.

Earlier today, Lebedeva with a lawyer filed a criminal
police report on the reported kidnapping.

According to her, the last known communication from
Lutsenko was a post he published on AutoMaidan’s internet page at nearly 4 a.m.
Lutsenko wrote in his message that less than 10 young men were roaming the hospital
and looking for somebody. “He asked people for help, to come to the hospital,
but unfortunately we were late, Lutsenko was kidnapped,” Lebedeva said.

She said the suspects are not known.

When the Kyiv Post dialed Lutsenko’s number, an
automated message from his mobile provider said that the “subscriber cannot be
reached at the moment.” An e-mailed message to Lutsenko went unanswered.

“We do not know Lutsenko’s whereabouts,” EuroMaidan’s commandant
and an opposition lawmaker Stepan Kubiv told the Kyiv Post. “Lutsenko is a
member of Maidan’s civil council. According to the laws adopted on Jan. 16 (and
which came into force on Jan. 21), everyone can be arrested and accused of
inciting a riot.”

Known for a being an activist of many causes that have
included landmark preservation campaigns, Lutsenko looked unhealthy that night,
Lebedeva says. The doctors wanted to examine him, but did not have time to do
that.

Verbytsky had serious eye injuries.

“I just talked to the doctor that examined Verbytsky,”
Yuriy Herasymenko, a public activist, wrote on his Facebook page this
morning.  “It was an elderly lady with her
eyes full of tears.”

Herasymenko said that the doctor had barely finished
writing referrals for Verbytsky to undergo emergency surgery when five men
stormed her room and took him away. The doctor called the police. The police
arrived quickly and took Verbytsky’s and Litsenko’s belongings and documents
that the two men left behind.

“This (crime) is definitely the police’s handwriting,”
Herasymenko added in his Facebook comment.

Kyiv police spokesperson Oleksandr Radkevych told the
Kyiv Post that Lutsenko was not detained by police. Lutsenko’s wife filed a
missing person’s report with the police and investigators said they are
searching for him.

“Police checked the hospital. According
to witnesses, Lutsenko and Verbytsky left the hospital territory independently
as several men accompanied them. No illegal acts were applied against Verbytsky
and Lusenko,” Radkevych added.

Lutsenko has never been arrested or detained, Lebedeva
said.

In the afternoon, after appearing on
online Hromadske TV, pro-presidential Party of Regions lawmaker Volodymyr
Oliynyk promised to talk to the deputy interior minister and deputy head of the
state security service concerning Lutsenko’s location, the Facebook page of EuroMaidan
states. Oliynyk also plans to make two parliamentary inquiries about Lutsenko’s
case.

Meanwhile many people have reposted
Lutsenko’s photo on their Facebook pages and urged the public to share
information about his whereabouts.

Kyiv Post
staff writer Natalia Trach can be reached at [email protected]