She was doused with a liter of acid, now she is dead: the activist Kateryna Gandsjuk had criticized corrupt authorities in Ukraine. President Poroshenko promises enlightenment.
She recovered from an attack on her life in July, now the Ukrainian anti-corruption activist Kateryna Gandsyuk has surprisingly died.
Three months after an acid attack on Gandsjuk, a group on Facebook, which regularly informed them about the condition of the 33-year-old, reported her death in a hospital on Sunday.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko confirmed her death. He called on investigators to "do anything to find the killers," "to be tried and punished," he said.
Gandsjuk worked as a consultant to the mayor in the southern city of Kherson. She was a critic of the security authorities and condemned especially the corruption in the regional Ministry of Interior.
A man had showered her with a liter of sulfuric acid outside her house on July 31st and escaped. She suffered severe burns on more than 30 percent of her body and has been treated in the hospital ever since. Actually, their healing has made progress, as the British broadcaster BBC reports. Now she may have died of a blood clot, reports the station, citing local media.
As part of the investigation, according to the BBC so far five suspected participants have been taken into custody. According to the Ukrainian public prosecutor's office from August, separatists in the south of Ukraine were involved in the crime of destabilizing the country.
After the announcement of Gandsjuk's death, a spontaneous mourning for the activist took place in the Ukrainian capital Kiev. Hundreds of protesters went to the Ministry of the Interior and demanded that the deed be cleared up completely.