Parliamentarians, others implicated in escalating child sex abuse scandal

Suspects from Tymoshenko camp say charges are untrue.

(Kyiv Post Staff) – Three parliament deputies are implicated in an escalating child sex-abuse scandal, while the father of two children allegedly victimized has been arrested as the main suspect in the case. At least two of the lawmakers have publicly denied the accusations.

Dmytro Polyukhovych, a journalist from ICTV television channel and a contributor to the respected Zerkalo Nedeli newspaper, was detained two months ago and remains in custody on court orders, according to prosecutors. He is the key suspect in the criminal case, which commenced in May.

Three parliamentarians from the Bloc of Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko are also named as accomplices, as well as officials from Artek, a popular children’s camp on the Crimean peninsula, and a priest.

“This is inexpressible horror. The children pointed to everyone who is publicly mentioned. They told us the details and are ready to identify [them], even by their sexual organs,” said Tetyana Montian, the lawyer handling the case on behalf of the children and their mother since April.

The mother of two children told authorities that the minors had accused their adopted father, Polyukhovych, of raping them many times, starting three years ago in Artek. They said their adoptive father had accomplices and that the assaults were videotaped.

Police this week confirmed some details of the case, and said they had restored 32,000 pornographic images and video clips on Polyukhovych’s home computer after his detention. Police also found that he sold some of this information to porn websites and received payment to an Internet-based account. He also allegedly ran a website offering sexual services with children.

Victoria Belova, spokeswoman for the Interior Ministry, confirmed these and other details in the case. She said that the evidence against the main suspect is so strong that “he won’t be able to wiggle out of this one.”

The gruesome details were spelled out in an Oct. 7 letter by parliamentarian Hryhoriy Omelchenko to President Victor Yushchenko. The letter was leaked to the press. Omelchenko confirmed the documents’ authenticity to the Kyiv Post.

“The children were systematically raped in the last three years. There are assessments by psychologists, who checked the truthfulness of the children’s and their mother’s statements with the help of a lie detector test. There wasn’t a single answer where experts could say they’re not telling the truth,” Omelchenko said.

According to his letter, the children also named parliament deputy Victor Ukolov, and a priest, as those adults who “took part in rape and group orgies.” Also named were officials from the Artek camp.

On Oct. 15, Ukolov denied involvement in his personal blog on the Ukrainska Pravda news portal, and insisted described efforts to incriminate him as part of a politically-motivated attack. But he also said he has already fled Kyiv. “I have left Kyiv. I am staying in a faraway village, trying to understand where my mistake was,” he wrote.

According to the blog, Ukolov knew Polyukhovych and admitted to helping him in May by providing $2,000 to hire a lawyer. But later, when he learned more about the alleged incident, Ukolov said he halted all assistance. He said he now “wishes a fair trial and punishment” for Polyukhovych.

“I don’t see what I could have done differently,” Ukolov wrote. “Possibly, I could have called [the mother of children]. As far as the rest is concerned, my conscience is clear.”

Montian said the children described how other children, poorly dressed, were singled out in the camp as victims. She said the kids could have been orphans from boarding schools.

She also said two other Tymoshenko camp lawmakers were singled out by name. “These surnames were named to me by the children,” she told the Kyiv Post. One of them said he was going to sue the children’s mother for spreading untruthful information about him.

“Yesterday I laughed at this whole situation because it’s too absurd to be taken seriously,” Serhiy Teriokhin, one of the lawmakers accused, told Ukrainski Novyny news agency on Oct. 15. The lawmakers implicated insist that the case is fabricated and politically motivated. Ukolov, who until recently was in charge of advertising for the prime minister’s presidential campaign, said he was quitting politics to avoid more smear campaigns.

“Just think about it