Volodymyr Rybak (politician, born 1971)

{{for|the former chairman of the Verkhovna Rada|Volodymyr Rybak (politician, born 1946)}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| name = Volodymyr Rybak

| native_name = {{nobold|Володимир Рибак}}

| native_name_lang = uk

| image =

| caption =

| office1 = Member of the Horlivka City Council

| status1 =

| term_start1 = November 2010

| term_end1 = 17 April 2014

| predecessor1 =

| term_end2 =

| predecessor2 =

| successor2 =

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1971|11|30|df=y}}

| birth_place = Horlivka, Donetsk Oblast, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union

| death_date = {{death date and age|2014|04|17|1971|11|30|df=y}}

| death_place = Horlivka, Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine

| party = Batkivshchyna

| other_party =

| spouse =

| children =

| awards = Hero of Ukraine (posthumously]

| occupation =

| alma_mater =

}}

Volodymyr Ivanovych Rybak ({{langx|uk|Володимир Іванович Рибак}}; 30 November 1971 – 17 April 2014) was a Ukrainian politician, member of the Horlivka city council, kidnapped{{cite web | url=http://uk.reuters.com/article/us-ukraine-crisis-politician-video-idUSBREA3M0EX20140423 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160204202938/http://uk.reuters.com/article/us-ukraine-crisis-politician-video-idUSBREA3M0EX20140423 | url-status=dead | archive-date=4 February 2016 | title='Murdered' Ukraine politician faced hostile mob, video shows | publisher=Reuters | date=2014-04-23 | access-date=2014-11-03}} and then murdered by the pro-Russian militia on 17 April 2014.{{cite web | url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-27118875 | title=Ukraine alert as politician killed | publisher=BBC | date=2014-04-22 | access-date=2014-11-03}} It was one of the first war crimes to have been committed by Russian forces during the Russo-Ukrainian War.{{cite web | url=https://khpg.org/en/1555269923 | title=Tortured to death for defending Ukraine. The first war crimes Russia brought to Donbas | publisher=Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group | date=2019-04-17 | access-date=2022-03-03}}

Biography

Rybak was born in the city of Horlivka in 1971. In 1995 he graduated from the Automobile Highway Institute of the Donetsk National Technical University and in 2002 from the Interregional Academy of Personnel Management.

From 1995 to 2009, Rybak worked in the division of Criminal Investigation for the Horlivka city police. In 2009 he joined the All-Ukrainian Association Fatherland (Batkivshchyna) and the next year headed its city's party cell.

In November 2010, Rybak became a member of the Horlivka city council.{{in lang|uk}} [https://life.pravda.com.ua/columns/2020/09/12/242297/ In memory of the Heroes of the Heavenly Hundred: normal Volodymyr Rybak], Ukrayinska Pravda (12 September 2020) During the 2012 Ukrainian parliamentary election, as a Batkivshchyna candidate, he ran for the Ukrainian parliament at the 41st electoral district (the Budonivskyi District of Donetsk) placing 4th with 5,195 votes (4.55%, winner {{ill|Bobkov Oleksandr|uk|Бобков Олександр Михайлович|ru|Бобков, Александр Михайлович}} of the Party of Regions won the district with 80.85% of the votes).{{Cite web|url=https://ukr.vote/en/elections/11/eldistrict/70/1410100000|title=Електоральна пам'ять|website=ukr.vote}}

Rybak was an active supporter of the 2013–2014 Euromaidan protest.

Rybak was abducted by separatists on 17 April 2014 after trying to raise the flag of Ukraine on Horlivka's town council building.[http://www.unian.info/society/1321966-poroshenko-street-in-free-horlivka-to-carry-tortured-ukrainian-activists-name.html Poroshenko: Street in free Horlivka to carry tortured Ukrainian activist's name], UNIAN (17 April 2016) Later his body with signs of torture was found in the Torets River, along with other two bodies. According to forensic reports, the victims were drowned, their bodies were covered with burns and stab wounds, and their stomachs were ripped open. The two other victims were Kyiv Polytechnic Institute student Yuriy Popravka and 25-year-old Yuriy Diakovsky.

In 2015 a memorial plaque was placed in Sloviansk after its liberation from Russian forces.{{Cite web|url=https://empr.media/news/conflict-zone/remembering-volodymyr-rybak-a-year-since-the-murder/|title=Remembering Volodymyr Rybak: a year since the murder|date=2015-04-18|website=EMPR: Russia – Ukraine war news, latest Ukraine updates|language=en-US|access-date=2020-04-18}}

In May 2020 Igor Strelkov, a key organizer of the Donetsk People's Republic's militant groups confessed in an interview with Ukrainian journalist Dmitry Gordon that he bore some responsibility for the killing of Rybak: "Naturally, Rybak, as a person who actively opposed the "militias", was an enemy in my eyes. And his death, probably, is to some extent also under my responsibility".{{cite web|url=https://gordonua.com/news/war/girkin-priznalsya-v-ubiystve-troih-ukraincev-1500414.html |title=Гиркин признался в убийстве трех украинцев |work=gordonua.com |date=18 May 2020 |access-date=27 May 2020}}

Awards

Hero of Ukraine with the Order of the Golden Star (February 20, 2015, posthumously){{Cite web |title=Про присвоєння звання Герой України |url=https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/go/94/2015 |access-date=2023-07-14 |website=Офіційний вебпортал парламенту України |language=uk}}

References

External links

[http://politrada.com/dossier/persone/id/5291 Biography] politrada.com
[https://web.archive.org/web/20140527004329/http://www.06242.com.ua/elections/cand/9/86 Biography] at the Horlivka city portal
[https://web.archive.org/web/20140427032414/http://www.06242.com.ua/elections/news/9/167671 Volodymyr Rybak speaks frankly: Cops are jackasses, mayor – a puppet, communists – traitors]. Horlivka city portal
[http://tsn.ua/video/video-novini/hronologiya-zhorstokogo-vbivstva-ribaka-yake-stalos-u-slov-yansku.html Chronology of brutal murder of Rybak that happened in Sloviansk]. Broadcasting Service of News (TSN).

Category:1971 births

Category:2014 deaths

Category:People from Horlivka

Category:Donetsk National Technical University alumni

Category:Interregional Academy of Personnel Management alumni

Category:Batkivshchyna politicians

Category:People of the 2014 pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine

Category:Torture in the Russo-Ukrainian War

Category:Ukrainian torture victims

Category:Ukrainian people taken hostage

Category:Pro-Ukrainian people of the war in Donbas

Category:Civilians killed in the war in Donbas