Occupiers torture Melitopol mayor to make him record a video in support of Russia
Denys Karlovsky – Saturday, 12 March 2022, 17:06
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the Mayor of Melitopol is being tortured to force him to record a video in support of the occupying forces of the Russian Federation.
Source: President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a press conference for foreign media
According to Zelenskyy: "We know that he is alive. And today, people in Melitopol – two thousand people – came out onto the streets, despite the fact that the city is occupied by the Russian troops – they came out because they saw where they [the Russian troops] had taken their mayor.
People know where he is. They [the Russian occupiers] are torturing him because he won’t say that he is glad to see the Russian authorities [take over Melitopol]. They want a video.
Well, we have all seen this in movies. And we have seen this happen a few times in the past 100 years, unfortunately: terrorist acts, when people are kidnapped and made to say something on record, otherwise they are killed.
They are not ashamed of this video! They just kidnap him, take him to a basement, torture him, record a video and then just kill him. One mayor was killed like that. Now they have another mayor.
Is this, as President Putin calls it, "demilitarisation" or a "military operation"? No, it’s just terrorism. With evidence. And with full consequences for them."
Details: Zelenskyy assured the media that he had discussed the kidnapping and hostage of the mayor of Melitopol, as well as humanitarian corridors, with foreign leaders.
He asked French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to raise the question of releasing the mayor of Melitopol during a telephone conversation with Putin.
Background:
- On 11 March, Russian occupiers kidnapped the Mayor of Melitopol, Ivan Fedorov, on the street. The moment of the kidnapping was recorded on surveillance cameras.
- Prior to that, the occupiers handed out leaflets demanding the surrender of Melitopol.
- On 12 March, residents of Melitopol staged protests near the district state administration demanding that the occupiers release Fedorov. The Russian invaders also kidnapped the activist Olha Haisumova, who organised protests in the city, right during the protests.
- Zelenskyy appealed to world leaders to help free Fedorov.
- On 7 March, the Russian military assassinated the mayor of Hostomel, Yuri Prylypko, while he was distributing humanitarian aid to local residents who found themselves blockaded by the Russian occupation forces. When a priest went to pick up the body of the deceased Prylypko, he found that the Russian occupiers had rigged it with explosives.
