Six Kyiv students in custody

Seven students from the Kyiv National University of Theatre, Cinema and Television were detained on Monday morning when returning from Maidan Nezalezhnosti.  One student has since been released, the other six have been detained for 72 hours.  All of them have had their outer layer clothes taken away to be tested for gas and are suspected of participation in the riots on Hrushevsky St. 

There is no clarity as to the grounds for such suspicions.  Fellow students have posted a message on social networks and are adamant that the students have been wrongfully detained.  A small protest was underway during the evening attended, among others, but director Mykhailo Ilchenko and MP (VO Svoboda) Bohdan Benyuk.

The students:

Oleksandr Shkrabak

Andriy Kotlyar

Yury Khrobust

Danyla Okulov

Vadym Kovalev

Ostap Vakulyuk

A graduate of the university and theatre director, Andriy Ivanyuk has also been detained.

The students reporting the detention say that there was no contact at all with the detained for over 6 hours, with all Kyiv police stations denying any knowledge of them.  Finally one of the students managed to send a text message saying where they were.

The disturbances on Hrushevsky St are still continuing, with confrontations between protesters and police who blocked the road and wouldn’t allow demonstrators through to the Verkhovna Rada building on Jan 19.

The report on the Interior Ministry site says that 31 people have been detained.

Reported at LB.ua