In the Eastern Ukrainian town of Slavyansk the Pentecostal community commemorated one year since the abduction, torture and murder in cold blood of four of their men by rebels of the pro-Russian self proclaimed People’s Republic of Donetsk (DNR). Exactly one year later, none of the perpetrators have been caught.
On the 8 June 2014 some eight gunmen in camouflage waited for the congregation to come out of the Church of the Transfiguration, where they just had their Pentecost celebration. Four men, among whom were two deacons, were taken to their cars, forced to drive off with the rebels, never to return again. They were shot the following night.
Mass grave
‘Of course we were scared,’ remembers Natalja (42) the widow of the slain deacon Viktor Bradarsky ‘ but what would they do to them? They hadn’t done anything wrong.’ Only after 35 agonising days of uncertainty she learned that her husband’s body was found in a mass grave, together with the other three and a couple of rebels. ‘When they handed over his wedding ring, I knew it was true’, Natalya whispers.
The Revd Alexander Pavenko, whose two sons Albert and Ruvim were killed, still isn’t willing to talk about the case, he says by telephone. But his colleague Pyotr Dudkin is. ‘They were killed because of their faith. The DNR-rebels consider Protestant churches to be American and America is their enemy’, Dudkin says in the office of his church. ‘Only in January the brother of one of the victims got a phone call. He was told that they were killed to discourage all non-Russian orthodox believers in the Donbass region.’
Investigation ongoing
The investigation into the case is still underway, but with no results so far. ‘The problem is that the perpetrators fled to the DNR after Ukrainian forces again took control of Slavyansk in the night of the 4/5 July’, says acting mayor Andrey Belezorov.
But according to Dudkin there might be another problem. ‘Out of 300 policeman in Slavyansk many swore their oath to the rebels. Only 100 were fired. That raises the question: what is the attitude of the other 200?’, says Dudkin, suggesting that there is talk of sabotage in the still heavily divided city.
The commemoration of the victims came two weeks after DNR-leader Alexander Zakharchenko promised to introduce legislation that will only recognise Russian Orthodox belief, Catholicism, Islam and Judaism in the DNR. Besides that, the rebels haven’t stopped threatening to take back Slavyansk, which is strategically very important, situated on the northern road to Kharkov (in Ukrainian hands as well). It might lead to renewed fear by the already traumatised Pentecostal believers in the town.
But Dudkin isn’t afraid of the insurgents’ bluffing: ‘In the Bible more terrible figures than Zakhartchenko appears’, he snorts contemptuously. ‘ Besides that, I was born in a Protestant family in Soviet times. We were prosecuted, we went through a lot more. We are flexible.’
Important question
For Natalya Bradarskaya an important question remains, one year after her much beloved husband was taken away from her and their three children. ‘The morning of the abduction Victor’s back hurt and he had a fever. I told him not to go to church, but he was a strong believer. “I am a deacon and it’s Pentecost”, he said and went. What would have happened if he had listened to me and stayed at home?’
