Young Woman gang raped, set afire, and left to die in Ukraine

According to ABC News, the lenient treatment of the suspects who allegedly gang raped a young woman in Ukraine then set her on fire and left her for dead at a construction site is sparking outrage and protest in the country.

Oksana Makar, 18, said she was invited by two men, age 21 and 23, to their friend’s apartment. That is where the men allegedly gang-raped her, tried to choke her to death, wrapped her in a sheet, brought her to a construction site and set her on fire, according to the Kyiv Post.

The next day, a man found her barely alive. He called the police, Makar was rushed to the hospital. Fifty-five percent of her skin was gone, her kidneys were completely burned and one of her arms and both her legs had to be amputated as a result of the incident on March 9. After undergoing surgery, Makar talked to the police, which led to the arrests of three men.

Two of the suspects were released because there was not enough evidence to hold them, a spokesperson for the Mykolayiv prosecutor’s office said to the Kyiv Post. So they were classified as witnesses. The third man, 23, was named a suspect.

The two men released are the sons of former government officials, Ukraine’s chief police officer, Vitaly Zakharchenko, confirmed. One of those men posted a video to YouTube describing the attack. It received over 100,000 views on the first day and sparked outrage across the country.

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WOW! Injustice at its worst. The fact that the two son’s of former government officials were released is insane. They were released- not because they were innocent- but because their fathers have power. And to top it all off one of them decided to post a video to YouTube recounting the whole incident! At that moment, the police- despite his father’s power- should have done the right thing and arrested him! After all, it is the girl’s welfare (the victim of this horrible incident) the police should be concerned with, not protecting the perpetrator who raped and tried to murder her.

These young men need to be held accountable and the reckless disregard for her life and the situation need to be taken into serious account. They need to be prosecuted to the extent of the law. And if the Ukrainian government does not do so, well shame on them for backing such immoral people. By not prosecuting them, the government will only instill a belief that rape and attempt murder are not serious offenses. Shame on Ukraine if it chooses to go down that path.