Ukrainian anti-corruption activist killed with acid mentioned in impeachment hearing

Ex-ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch and at least one congressman referred to the death of a prominent anti-corruption activist Kateryna Handziuk, who died in 2018 following an acid attack, during Friday’s impeachment inquiry hearing.

Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, a Democrat from New York, asked Yovanovitch, “Why would somebody attack her with acid? There are easier ways to kill people. Why did they do it with acid?”

“I think they wanted her out of the way, but I think the message was this could happen to you, too, if you continue her work,” Yovanovitch answered.

“That’s what happens when you go up against corrupt people in Ukraine?” Maloney asked.

“It is something that can happen,” Yovanovitch said.

Handziuk was brought up in Friday’s hearing because on April 25 — when Yovanovitch got the call telling her to leave Kiev — Yovanovitch was posthumously awarding her the “Woman of Courage” award. Handziuk’s father received it on her behalf.

According to the prosecutors in the case, in late July 2018, the perpetrator poured over a liter of sulfuric acid on Handziuk as she was next to her house. She suffered severe chemical burns to 30% of her body and had to undergo more than 10 surgeries. Initially, a criminal case was launched under a “hooliganism” offense but reclassified as “assault with the intent of intimidation” due to public pressure, Ukrainian news agencies reported at the time.

A few weeks prior to her death, Handziuk recorded an anti-corruption message from her hospital bed saying, “I know I look bad now … but I’m sure that I look much better than fairness and justice in Ukraine.”

Earlier this year, then-prosecutor Yuri Lutsenko said in a televised statement that the main suspect who ordered the acid attack is a local politician in the Ukrainian town of Kherson, Vladislav Manger. The possible motive was a TV story accusing him of large scale corruption and other investigations into corruption in Kherson that Handziuk worked on, along with others.

Manger was arrested but eventually was released on bail. He denies any involvement but is still a suspect in the case. In June 2019, a court in Dnepropetrovsk convicted five men who participated in obtaining acid and carrying out the attack.