Ekaterina Gandzyuk
Date of Birth: 17.06.1985
Ekaterina Viktorovna Gandzyuk - Deputy of the Kherson Regional Council V and the Kherson City Council VI, Deputy Executive Director of the Executive Committee of the Kherson City Council, Advisor to the Mayor of Kherson, national UN volunteer, PhD student at the National Academy of Public Administration under the President of Ukraine, activist in the field of access to public information, Coordinator of the Center for Political Studies and Analysis in the Kherson region.
Place of Birth. Education. She was born on June 17, 1985, in Kherson. She studied at the Kherson State University from 2002 to 2006. In 2008, she graduated from the National Economic University of Kyiv. In 2016, she graduated from the National Academy of Public Administration under the President of Ukraine.
Professional Activity. 2006 - GOU 'Eidos' (Center for Political Studies and Analysis), Project Manager, Chairwoman of the Regional Division in Kherson.
2008 - Institute of Psychology, Sociology and History of Kherson State University, Head of the Internship Group.
2008-2012 - Specialist at the Youth Employment Center in the Youth and Sports Management of the Kherson Regional State Administration.
2011-2012 - Project Manager of the Civic Activity Promotion Foundation.
2012 - Specialist in the Development of Volunteer Work among Youth at the United Nations Population Fund in Ukraine.
2012-2016 - Member of the Program Council 'Democratic Practice' of the International Foundation 'Rebirth'.
2014 - Senior Assistant for Legal Protection Issues at the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in the Kherson region.
2015 - Consultant for the Migration Project of an international organization in Kherson.
In November 2016, she was appointed Deputy Executive Director of the Executive Committee of the Kherson City Council.
Political Activities. Since 2003, an activist of the Fatherland Party. She led the regional public organization 'Young Fatherland'.
2004 - Active participant in the Orange Revolution.
In 2006, she was elected Deputy of the Kherson Regional Council by the Fatherland Party.
In 2012, she co-founded the civic journalism agency 'MOST' and the website most.ks.ua. The website became a platform highlighting local political issues and later became the only media company in the region focused on monitoring state procurement and the use of public funds. The team of the civic journalism agency 'MOST' deals with corruption and monitoring-related investigations in the Kherson region.
Since 2012, she has been working on the project 'Young Football Volunteers: Sport and Volunteer Activities for the Millennium Goals' of UNDP, promoting sports in rural areas of Kherson, collaborating with students and sports teachers at schools.
Active participant in the Euromaidan in Kherson. She actively resisted attempts to launch a 'Russian Spring' in Kherson.
After the annexation of Crimea and the start of the war in Donbass, she dealt with internally displaced persons. As a Legal Protection Issues Assistant at the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in the Kherson region, she organized a voluntary fundraising campaign to procure shoes for the children of internally displaced persons.
In May 2014, Ekaterina was elected as a Deputy of the Kherson City Council on the list of the Political Party Fatherland.
In September 2015, she was expelled from the Political Party Fatherland.
Since 2016, she was a member of the volunteer group 'Itchy Trigger Finger Ukrainians', which develops and disseminates patriotic outdoor advertising aimed at the residents of the occupied Crimea.
Due to her long-standing active lifestyle, Ekaterina Gandzyuk found herself in a systemic conflict with pro-Russian forces in the region, including the organization 'Ukrainian Choice' headed by Viktor Medvedchuk, the CPU, the KOV, and the movement of extraterritorial communities.
Assault. On July 31, 2018, at around 8:30 AM, an unknown person poured concentrated sulfuric acid over Ekaterina Gandzyuk. The attack occurred near the house where Ekaterina lived as she was going to work.
Ekaterina Gandzyuk was taken to the resuscitation department of the regional hospital in a shocking condition. The burns covered more than 30% of her body. The acid hit the woman on the back, head, arm, and also in the eyes.
An investigation was initially launched under Article 296 of the Ukrainian Criminal Code (Hooliganism); later, the crime was requalified as 'intentional serious bodily injury committed to intimidate the victim' (Part 2, Article 121). Eventually, the case was requalified to 'attempted murder with particular cruelty.' In November 2018, the case was requalified to 'completed murder' under the Ukrainian Criminal Code.
On August 1, Ekaterina Gandzyuk was taken to Kyiv by a sanitary vehicle and placed under state protection.
Due to mistrust of the Kherson police and suspicion of their involvement in the attack, Gandzyuk refused to cooperate with them. On August 2, she provided details to investigators from the Strategic Investigation Department (SID) who visited Gandzyuk at the Kyiv Burn Center.
As of August 5, 2018, the search for the attacker was still ongoing. A composite sketch of the attacker was created, and a reward was offered for information that could lead to his identification. The Prosecutor General of Ukraine, Yuri Lutsenko, personally took over supervision of the criminal proceedings regarding the attack on Ekaterina Gandzyuk. Gandzyuk's public activity is considered the most likely cause of the attack.
On August 17, 2018, two Ukrainian citizens were arrested who, according to investigators, were accomplices in organizing the attack - Vladimir Vasyanovich and Sergei Torbin. The prosecutor stated that they, like other participants in the case - Gorbunov and Vishnevsky - are referred to as initiators of the attack on Gandzyuk. All the perpetrators are former participants of the war in Donbass, scouts of the 5th Battalion of the Ukrainian Volunteer Army.
August 21, 2018 The Kherson City Court decided to hold both for 60 days without the right to bail.
On February 7, 2019, journalists from the project 'Schemes: Corruption in Detail' published evidence of the connection of the Governor of the Kherson Regional Council, Vladislav Mangera, with the main suspect in organizing the murder of Gandzyuk, Levine. On February 8, the Kherson Regional Organization of the Fatherland Party expelled Vladislav Mangera from the party ranks and recommended that he resign as Chairman of the Kherson Regional Council.
On February 11, 2019, the head of the Kherson Regional Council, Vladislav Mangera, was charged with organizing the murder of activist Ekaterina Gandzyuk.
Death. Ekaterina Gandzyuk died on November 4, 2018, at the age of 34. Preliminary information indicates that the cause of death was thrombosis.