Human rights activist says police beat him in Kharkiv Oblast; police deny allegations

On Jan. 29, Kostyantyn Reutskiy, a human rights activist, alleges that police at the Pisochyn checkpoint in Kharkiv Oblast beat him as he was on his way back to Kyiv from the war zone.

Reutskiy was on assignment with Hromadske TV journalist Anastasia Stanko and Pawel Pieniazek, a journalist fromPoland. They were driving from Popasna to Kyiv when their car was stopped by three police officers around 10 p.m.The officers didn't give their names, but asked to check the car and their belongings, Reutskiy recalls. Police, however, tell a different story.

According to officials, the journalists provoked the conflict.When police officers decided to check the car, the journalist said youre checking our car, because you have nothing else to do, reads the official statement.When the driver tried to get something out of his pocket, police officers blocked the movement. The driver considered it was an attack on him and fell on the ground, while police officers tried to help him.

The head of the Kharkiv Oblast police, Anatoliy Dmytriev, said he will personally follow the case.

Reutskiy says that he decided to film the police stop with his GoPro camera. "This made them angry, and when I reached in my pocket to put it back, they pushed me on the car and twisted my arms, he says.

Stanko, who witnessed the incident, said the police officers later pushed Reutskiy to the ground, yelling insults. When she tried to take the pictures of the beating, one of the officers pushed her.

Police officers beat Kostyantyn Reutskiy, a human rights activist, at the Pisochyn checkpoint in Kharkiv Oblast. (Nastya.stanko/Facebook)

I was shocked, Stanko explains.We spent lots of time in the east and saw many police officers who are ready to help and who risk their lives in the war zone. And we havent seen such treatment.

Some 50 civic activists and journalists protested against police abuse outside the Interior Ministry in Kyiv on Jan. 30.

Reutskiy believes the police officers were from the now disbanded Berkut riot police unit. When the officers seized his camera, Reutskiy was freed.

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Human rights activist says police beat him in Kharkiv Oblast; police deny allegations