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A Ukrainian protester whose account of torture has shocked Europe arrived in the Latvian capital Riga Sunday, en route to neighbouring Lithuania for medical treatment, a Latvian foreign ministry official said Sunday.
“Dmytro Bulatov’s plane has landed. … The Riga airport authorities are aware he is on the plane and en route to Vilnius and they will provide the necessary humanitarian assistance,” Latvian foreign ministry spokesman Karlis Eihenbaums told AFP in Riga.
Lithuanian Foreign Linas Linkevicius tweeted Sunday that his country had agreed to take in Bulatov, wishing him a “good recovery!”
Lithuanian Health Minister Vytenis Andriukaitis told AFP Sunday he expected Bulatov to land in Vilnius around midnight.
“He will be brought by ambulance to hospital in Vilnius,” he said.
Lithuania vowed last month to provide free medical assistance to Ukrainians injured in violent protests in Kiev in a show of support for the pro-EU opposition.
Bulatov will be third injured Ukrainian protester to receive medical attention in Vilnius.
He is a leader of the “Automaidan” movement, which has organised protest motorcades outside President Viktor Yanukovych’s sprawling country estate near Kiev and has been targeted by police.
The 35-year-old father of three said he was “crucified” by unidentified kidnappers who drove nails through his hands and cut off part of his ear while they held him for eight days following clashes in Kiev.