On 25 May, armed representatives of the so-called "Donetsk People's Republic" have seized five members of district election commission #42.

Members of DECs were hostages of terrorists for 22 hours, then released. Member of the DEC #42 Serhii Hrechko told observers of the monitoring campaign of the Donetsk Office of the Committee of Voters of Ukraine and Civic Network OPORA about the abduction.

"On the election day, we decided to open some polling stations in our district to let people vote. We went to take ballots in Donetsk airport. There were three of us: me, Commission Head Oleksandr Kosenko and a proxy of presidential candidate in our district Nataliia Stepko. There were also two drivers, we went to take ballots on two cars,"— Serhii told.

The abduction occurred when commission members were returning from the airport with ballots. Armed people have blocked the road,, and stopped the car.

"We were surprised when one of gunmen without any doubts or fear appeared on the road and started stopping our car, which was moving on a high speed. Unfortunately, we had to stop. Gunmen pulled us out of the car, searched and found the ballots. One of the terrorists was very aggressive, hit me few times, and told to take us somewhere," — Serhii told.

Terrorists took the hostages to the building of the Oblast Department of SBU. Some time later, they also brought there commission members, which were in another car. It was also seized. They took all personal things from commission members, including phones and wallets.

"We didn't know where they brought us. They have tied our eyes. Thus, with our eyes tied, we spent a night in the basement. On the next day we knew that it was a building of the SBU. In general, the gunmen treated us normally. They gave us food and drinks, but never took off eye bands. We were not questioned. They just kept us there, that's all," — Serhii told.

On the next day, terrorists have let all hostages free. The commander explained that it was initiative of one of his subordinates to hostage commission members.

"Other gunmen called him "Batia" ("Dad"). We told him about stolen money and phones. It's interesting that he returned money straight away, and told that will try to return phones sometime later. By the way, he also said why they let us go. Allegedly, the Mayor of Donetsk himself asked to free us," — Serhii summarized.

As it was reported earlier, gunmen of the so-called "DPR" had made a number of armed assaults on election commissions in Donetsk oblast. Terrorists took a lot of hostages, threatened them, and stole their personal things.

It's still unknown where Ruslan Kudriavtsev is, the Head of DEC #43 in Donetsk. He was abducted on 22 May, and talks about his release still continue.

Contacts for the press:

Oleksandr Ivanov

Press-secretary of the Donetsk Office of the AUNGO Committee of Voters of Ukraine

(050) 539 23 05, [email protected]

About civic observation during the elections:

Civic monitoring conducted by OPORA and AUNGO Committee of Voters of Ukraine in Donetsk - is a type of network activity, aimed at impartial assessment of the preparation and conduct of elections, as well as preventing electoral violations through comprehensive civic action.

Since March, OPORA conducts a wide observation campaign during snap Presidential election, interim Parliamentary elections (district #83), and special local elections. The organization cooperates with 175 long-term observers, who are watching the course of election campaign in all Ukrainian regions. On the Election Day on May 25, 3,000 activists will join them to conduct the parallel vote tabulation, based on statistical sample. In Donetsk oblast the civic observation of the Presidential election process is conducted by the oblast office of the Committee of Voters of Ukraine.