Kids raped in famous Ukrainian recreation camp?

Senior Ukrainian politicians are facing allegations of child sex abuse at a Black Sea holiday camp. The claims will be heard by Parliament on Tuesday and come as the presidential election campaign gets underway.

Popular among children in Soviet times, the Artek youth summer camp in Ukraine’s picturesque Crimea is still a major holiday destination.

A woman claims her son and her daughter were sexually abused there, and has taken her case to Rada (parliament) deputy Vadim Kolesnichenko.

“She said they were not only sexually assaulted by the camp’s employees, but were also forced to be filmed in pornographic movies. According to witnesses, several politicians were involved in it, including Rada deputies,” said Vadim Kolesnichenko.

The woman said the children were first abused by their father at the camp and then taken to a venue where they were raped by camp staff and high-ranking officials for a pornographic film.

“I immediately raised an alarm and we checked that information,” Kolesnichenko said. “Unfortunately, it was confirmed.”

Police are investigating explosive claims that certain high-ranking politicians, including several Rada deputies, were involved in the abuse.

The Rada member said he contacted law enforcement agencies, the Prosecutor General’s Office and the human rights ombudsman asking them to prevent the closure of the criminal case, which has already been opened, and not drag it out.

“We are now doing everything to prevent high-ranking officials from avoiding responsibility,” the Party of the Regions press service quoted the deputy as saying.

The children’s father has been arrested and police are questioning other suspects.

One man whose name has been made public is a deputy from Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko’s bloc, former economics minister Sergey Terekhin.

“I cannot say anything until the investigation is going. Sorry, but no comments,” was Rada Deputy Terekhin’s brief response.

But while he was evasive in his comments, after hours of testimony it has become quite clear that the Artek case has grown from purely criminal to grossly political.

According to Rada deputies, child sex abuse in the Crimea has been going on for several years. Hardly anyone in Ukraine would call it a coincidence that the information has surfaced only now