Gunmen of the "DPR" attacked the election commission #43 two times. On 22 May, during the first visit, terrorists took the equipment and documentation, during the second — personal things of commission members and Ruslan Kudriavtsev, the Head of DEC.
Representatives of so-called "Donetsk People's Republic" have freed the Head of District Election Commission #43, Ruslan Kudriavtsev. Such information was reported by observers of a joint monitoring campaign of the Donetsk Office of the Committee of Voters of Ukraine and Civic Network OPORA.
Terrorists have attacked the commission on 22 May, two times. First time, they took the computer case, all documentation, and the seal. The next time, terrorists behaved more boldly, and hostaged the Head of Commission Ruslan Kudriavtsev.
"They took me as a hostage because I was a representative of Presidential candidate Dmytro Yarosh. They thought I'm his activist, and couldn't understand that I'm just working in election commission, and have nothing to do with activities of this candidate. Armed people handcuffed me and took out of the commission. When we went out, there were five police officers in the corridor. However, they didn't react at the situation. Unknown armed persons took the Commission Head handcuffed, and they just stood silent," – Ruslan says.
The terrorists kept Ruslan in the basement of the Donetsk Oblast Department of the SBU. In this very building, members of the district commission #42 were staying as hostages of the gunmen. Terrorists freed Ruslan on 27 May, in the evening. According to his wife, the talks regarding Ruslan Kudriavtsev were conducted by the UN representative, and Mayor of Donetsk.
"They treated us okay in the basement of SBU. Gunmen didn't touch us, didn't question us. They fed us and gave us water. There were members of three precinct commissions in Kirov raion with me. Fortunately, they freed us all together," — Ruslan tells.
As it's already known, it's not the first fact of police inaction in incidents when gunmen of the "DPR" involved, who have committed a number of impudent crimes against members of election commissions in Donetsk oblast.
About civic observation during the elections:
Civic monitoring conducted by OPORA and AUNGO Committee of Voters of Ukraine in Donetsk - is a type of network activity, aimed at impartial assessment of the preparation and conduct of elections, as well as preventing electoral violations through comprehensive civic action.
Since March, OPORA conducts a wide observation campaign during snap Presidential election, interim Parliamentary elections (district #83), and special local elections. The organization cooperates with 175 long-term observers, who are watching the course of election campaign in all Ukrainian regions. On the Election Day on May 25, 3,000 activists will join them to conduct the parallel vote tabulation, based on statistical sample. In Donetsk oblast the civic observation of the Presidential election process is conducted by the oblast office of the Committee of Voters of Ukraine.