PART 4 A YEAR AFTER: MAIN VIOLATIONS OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN CRIMEA Yury was dragged into some room, thrown face down on the U oor, where he laid in a pool of his own blood, and then stripped to his underpants and tied to a chair with tape so that it was impossible to move. Then Shevchenko was brought to the rest of the hostages. Here they were all blind- folded, they were not even taken out to the toilet and had to ‘soil themselves’ for several days. Yury says that he ‘was still lucky’ though. Because of his severe wounds he was not bothered in particular, and even was allowed to sleep on a mattress, while the others huddled either on the U oor or on the chairs. Aleksandra Ryazantseva, Ekaterina Butko, Elena Maksimenko, Oles Kromplyas, Evgeny Rakhno On March 9, 2014, at Armyansk checkpoint near the entrance to Crimea from the Kherson region, the unidentiR ed armed men detained two cars with AutoMaidan activists Alexandra Ryazantseva and Ekaterina Butko, journalist Elena Maksimenko, photographer Oles Kromplyas and their driver Evgeny Rakhno. After the Ukrainian U ag was found in the trunk, the girls were put on their knees, searched, during which a tattoo dedicated to the Heavenly Hundred was noticed on Alexandra Ryazantseva’s hand. ‘They wanted to cut oR my hand, they cut oR my hair. They began to drag wom- en by hair, beat Katya Butko with a buttstock, they told us, ‘Run in the + eld, and we’ll shoot at you; those who are lucky will be wounded, the rest killed.’ From Alexandra Ryazantseva’s speech in Ukrainian Crisis Media Center, March 18, 2014. After several hours of abuse, the detained activists and journalists thrown into the basement of the tra7 c police station. The same evening, the prisoners were trans- ferred near Sevastopol. They were held on the base of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in solitary conR nement and interrogated about the actions organized by AutoMaidan, their R nancing and the Members of the Parliament supporting them. ‘The group comprised men from “Berkut” riot police, the most angry, they attacked us and yelled at us. One of their alleged chiefs, obeyed by others, came up to me. He held a big knife, saying, ‘I collect ears. Which do you pre- fer to have cut oR , left or right?’ Then he cut oR both of my running shoes tongues. After that, he ordered to the others to put all our documents in the package and burn them. And he threatened to rape us + rst and then shoot.’ From the interview with Ekaterina Butko, Ukrainian Pravda. Life, March 20, 2014. 62