On March 27 of this year, in the city of Bakhmut, Donetsk region, a journalist from the publication “Pravovoy Kontrol” Sidorenko Nikolay Nikolayevich (Сидоренко Микола Маколайович) was beaten and kidnapped.
According to available information, the abductors were dressed in military uniform and arrived in a car with military license plates. The faces of the abductors were covered, they did not show any documents, but they declared that they represented the local paramilitary self-defense.
The kidnapped journalist, Mr. Sidorenko, was disabled and our Organization provided him with legal support. Thus, Mr. Sidorinko accused the local police of earlier illegal detention, of using torture against him, and also initiated a criminal investigation against a number of officials of the National Police of Ukraine in the Donetsk region: criminal proceedings No. 42017050000001017 and No. 62020050000000336.
Our appeals to the Security Service of Ukraine, the National Police and the State Bureau of Investigation did not give any result. These law enforcement agencies reported that they did not detain Mr. Sidorenko.
Police bodies do not carry out any active investigative and search actions, sabotaging the statements of journalists, relatives and human rights organizations.
Since Mr. Sidorenko had a long conflict with the police, we reasonably believe that the law enforcement officers of Bakhmut, if not themselves committed the abduction, then at least cover for the criminals.
Solidaritätsnetz International believes that the kidnapping of our defendant is a banal settling of accounts with the use of paramilitary organizations and lack of control in wartime conditions. The stubborn reluctance of the police to search for the perpetrators confirms our version of the involvement of the police in the abduction.
We will not leave this crime unattended and will continue our struggle to restore justice.