Kateryna Viktorivna Handziuk ( uk, Катерина Вікторівна Гандзюк; 17 June 1985 – 4 November 2018) was a Ukrainian civil rights and

anti-corruption Anti-corruption (or anticorruption) comprises activities that oppose or inhibit corruption. Just as corruption takes many forms, anti-corruption efforts vary in scope and in strategy. A general distinction between preventive and reactive measu ...

activist campaigner and political advisor, who exposed

corruption Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense which is undertaken by a person or an organization which is entrusted in a position of authority, in order to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's personal gain. Corruption m ...

in her hometown of

Kherson Kherson (, ) is a port city of Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers appr ...

. She was attacked with sulphuric acid on 31 July 2018, and died from her injuries on 4 November 2018.

Education and career

Handziuk was born on 17 June 1985 in

(then a city in the

Ukrainian SSR The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic ( uk, Украї́нська Радя́нська Соціалісти́чна Респу́бліка, ; russian: Украи́нская Сове́тская Социалисти́ческая Респ ...

of the

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

, now

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

). Handziuk studied at the State University of Kherson between 2002 and 2006. She graduated in 2008 from the National Economic University in

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

and 2016 from the National Academy of Public Administration in Kyiv. Handziuk joined the political party "Fatherland" in 2003 and she quickly became the leader of its local youth wing. In 2006, she was elected a deputy of the regional council of the

Kherson Oblast Kherson Oblast ( uk, Херсо́нська о́бласть, translit=Khersónsʹka óblastʹ, ), also known as Khersonshchyna ( uk, Херсо́нщина, ), is an oblast (province) in southern Ukraine, currently claimed and partly occupied ...

and the for the party

Batkivshchyna The All-Ukrainian Union "Fatherland" ( uk, Всеукраїнське об'єднання "Батьківщина", translit=Vseukrains'ke obiednannia "Bat'kivshchyna") referred to as Batkivshchyna (), is a political party in Ukraine led by Peo ...

, as well as adviser to the mayor of Kherson. She participated in the

Orange Revolution The Orange Revolution ( uk, Помаранчева революція, translit=Pomarancheva revoliutsiia) was a series of protests and political events that took place in Ukraine from late November 2004 to January 2005, in the immediate afterm ...

. In 2012, she volunteered for the

United Nations Development Programme The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)french: Programme des Nations unies pour le développement, PNUD is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human dev ...

. She left the “Fatherland” party in 2015.Assassination attempt against Handziuk: who is suspected and what is known about the crime?
OPINION UA (17 September 2018) During the Kherson 2015 local elections, Handziuk was an active volunteer who helped the acting mayor of Kherson, Volodymyr Mykolayenko, to win the elections. In November 2016 Handziuk become the acting manager of affairs at Kherson City Council’s executive committee. Handziuk was a critic of the security authorities and especially condemned corruption in the regional department of

Ministry of Internal Affairs An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministry ...

. She had publicized the involvement of the police in several cases of corruption.

Death

FC Dynamo Kyiv vs SK Slavia Praha 14-08-2018 (03)

A man threw

sulfuric acid Sulfuric acid (American spelling and the preferred IUPAC name) or sulphuric acid ( Commonwealth spelling), known in antiquity as oil of vitriol, is a mineral acid composed of the elements sulfur, oxygen and hydrogen, with the molecular formu ...

on her in front of her house on 31 July 2018 and fled. She suffered severe burns on more than 30% of her body. The Ukrainian authorities arrested five suspects. The

European Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy The Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement is the member of the European Commission in charge of overseeing the accession process of prospective new member states and relations with those bordering the European Union (EU). The present ...

Johannes Hahn Johannes Hahn (born 2 December 1957) is an Austrian politician who has served as European Commissioner for Budget and Administration under Ursula von der Leyen since 1 December 2019. He previously served as European Commissioner for European Ne ...

wrote on Twitter: "Attacks on civil society activists are unacceptable. Those responsible for this insidious crime must be held accountable." Handziuk first received treatment at a local hospital but was transferred to a special medical institution in

soon afterwards.I am submitting my resignation today — Prosecutor General Lutsenko

Interfax-Ukraine The Interfax-Ukraine ( uk, Інтерфакс-Україна) is a Kyiv-based Ukraine, Ukrainian independent news agency founded in 1992. The company does not belong to the Russian news corporation Interfax Information Services. The company pub ...

(6 November 2018) Handziuk died on 4 November 2018. The preliminary cause of death was a

thrombosis Thrombosis (from Ancient Greek "clotting") is the formation of a blood clot inside a blood vessel, obstructing the flow of blood through the circulatory system. When a blood vessel (a vein or an artery) is injured, the body uses platelets (thro ...

Ukrainian President The president of Ukraine ( uk, Президент України, Prezydent Ukrainy) is the head of state of Ukraine. The president represents the nation in international relations, administers the foreign political activity of the state, condu ...

Petro Poroshenko Petro Oleksiyovych Poroshenko ( uk, Петро́ Олексі́йович Пороше́нко, ; born 26 September 1965) is a Ukrainian businessman and politician who served as the fifth president of Ukraine from 2014 to 2019. Poroshenko ser ...

confirmed in the evening of the same day the death of Handziuk in a Kyiv hospital. He called on the police to do everything to clarify the case. After the announcement of her death, there was a spontaneous mourning in the Ukrainian capital, in which hundreds of demonstrators moved to the Ministry of Interior and demanded the complete investigation of the murder. Former

United States Ambassador to Ukraine The history of ambassadors of the United States to Ukraine began in 1992. Until 1991, the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic had been a constituent SSR of the Soviet Union. History Upon the breakup of the USSR, the parliament of Ukraine declar ...

Marie Yovanovitch Marie Louise "Masha" Yovanovitch (born November 11, 1958) is a Canadian-American former diplomat and retired senior member of the United States Foreign Service. She served in multiple State Department posts, including Senior Advisor to the Unde ...

mentioned in testimony on 15 November 2019 before the

United States House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence The United States House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI), also known as the House Intelligence Committee, is a committee of the United States House of Representatives, currently chaired by Adam Schiff. It is the primary committ ...

impeachment inquiry against Donald Trump The inquiry process which preceded the first impeachment of Donald Trump, 45th president of the United States, was initiated by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on September 24, 2019, after a whistleblower alleged that Donald Trump may have a ...

that she was honoring Kateryna Handziuk on 25 April, when she received a phone call from Washington, DC to leave Ukraine.

Legacy

In November 2022, as part of a derussification campaign,

White Sea The White Sea (russian: Белое море, ''Béloye móre''; Karelian and fi, Vienanmeri, lit. Dvina Sea; yrk, Сэрако ямʼ, ''Serako yam'') is a southern inlet of the Barents Sea located on the northwest coast of Russia. It is su ...

Street was renamed to Kateryna Handziuk Street.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Handziuk, Kateryna 1985 births 2018 crimes in Ukraine 2018 deaths 21st-century Ukrainian politicians 21st-century Ukrainian women politicians Acid attack victims All-Ukrainian Union "Fatherland" politicians Assassinated activists Female murder victims Kyiv National Economic University alumni Local politicians in Ukraine National Academy of State Administration alumni People from Kherson People murdered in Ukraine People of the Euromaidan Ukrainian anti-corruption activists Ukrainian human rights activists Women human rights activists Ukrainian murder victims Ukrainian women activists Unsolved murders in Ukraine Kherson State University alumni

Education and career

Death

Legacy

See also

References

External links