Written by Natalia Radulov
Translated by Vo Lya
Source: http://radulova.livejournal.com/3144071.html

I know the person tortured by Berkut forces.

Many of you have posted this video today:

By now Mikhail’s last name is known not only to me, but to the whole of Ukraine. “The guy tortured by Berkut is a volunteer from the 4th cossack squadron of the People’s Self-Defense Bloc. His name is Mikhailo Havrilyuk,” Andrei Parubiy, a member of parliament, said. He also added that Mikhailo was brought to the Self-Defense headquarters located on Maidan. “He received medical treatment and soon will be at the briefing.”

A source representing Kharkiv’s Ministry of Internal Affairs forces has commented on this video as well: “We’ve been trying to catch this f…er for two days. He is one of the sharpest throwers. He threw Molotov cocktails at us and a lot of our guys were hurt. We’ve finally caught him and stripped him. He was our souvenir as an example to others,” a source from Kharkiv’s police told us. You can see how they knock Mikhail’s hat off and take his ice ax away at the beginning of the arrest.

They also say that this rebel was allegedly covered in Molotov gasoline and either threatened to set himself on fire or was stripped as a safety measure so that he wouldn’t be able to torch a bus for example. And there really was a fireman with extinguisher present when the police escorted Havrilyuk out. But let the investigators determine whether this version is true. Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine promised to conduct an investigation of this video.

I met Mikhail at Maidan several days ago. He was chopping wood and was happy to chat with me until one of the cossacks threw a snowball at his back and told him to watch what he was saying.

“And what did I say?” ranted Mikhail. “If you said something important, it would be an ax in your back, not a snowball,” they joked. Cossacks are mainly Maidan’s security and are members of the Self-Defense bloc.

Certainly, he didn’t tell me all of the secrets. But the part he wanted to share I covered in the article published in Ogonyok magazine before these events happened. Let me quote it:

“Fourth squadron, prepare to fight!”

“Have you heard about Zaporozhskaya Sich?”, Mikhail is chopping wood and chips are all over the place. “This is our camp. This is our Maidan Sich.” Mikhail is a cossack from Chernovitska region. He is managing supplies at his squadron. He gets cigarettes (every post has plastic boxes for donations including cigarettes for security), he brings food (there are several free food locations throughout Maidan), brings laundry for locals to wash. But his main chore is chopping wood. Fellow businessmen donate the wood.

Mikhail has left his wife and his household. “What can a wife say to a cossack? A cossack goes where people need him. She is doing fine without me, doesn’t starve. She is used to that. I’m from the country, roamed the city for a couple of years, and came back home. Did winter sowing, the whole 75 acres all by-hand, the same way our grandfathers did. Wheat sprouts are strong as nails. You touch them and they stay as sharp. So, there is no work till March, I think. Then I’ll come to plant vegetables and will go back again. Or I can hire someone for 100-150 hryvnas a day and he’ll do everything. Where will I get the money? There are ways. I can make cossack hats and sell them 150 hryvnas each. I already have customers.”

Mikhail is ready to stay on Maidan till summer and till next presidential elections in 2015. “I’m walking around, saying hi to everybody, talking to everybody. We are all brothers, all happy, all loved and united. Today we woke up to: ‘Fourth squadron, get ready to fight!’ And I’m running with everybody somewhere. Turns out, Young Regions party thugs crawled in early in the morning to dismantle our barricades. Their blood is boiling too, so they are looking for trouble. But we swarmed them like bees and they turned back and ran away through Khreschatik while we yelled ‘Get out of here, Gang!!!’ Victory! Joy! I don’t know how to live if this stops.”

On this exact video Mikhail was saying that he is ready to stay on Maidan for a hundred years, that Yanukovych doesn’t disturb him that much. “Is he at my throat or what? He can stay for the time being. I guess he’ll get the point eventually.” But he thinks about the future as well. “There will be little Maidan children, a new generation will emerge. A new generation of Maidan is not good.”

Later, while studying Maidan pictures, and it’s not a peaceful Maidan anymore, but a warzone, I noticed Mikhail in them a lot. He was always front row and, knowing his character, I wasn’t surprised. Mikhail has a shield and an ice ax, the same one he had to pose with.

He is on this video as well:

Yes, Mikhail is everywhere, but it can be due to his curiosity and his thrill for kids’ mock battle games like Zarnitsa. There is no single photo or video evidence to prove that he attacked anybody.

“Mikhail is 33 years old, has a wife and a 12-year old son. He borrowed 200 hryvnas from his neighbor to get to Kyiv. He’s been in the capital since November 30th. “Here is another video of his arrest (1:04):

Mikhail, I hope you are in good health. And so are your attackers. And I really hope that there are no more casualties in Kyiv.

P.S. Ok, he is giving press conferences already. Mikhail is now a hero and symbol of Ukraine. I feel there is glory awaiting him and maybe a position. A man from the masses on stage. And they didn’t even squirm to steal my photo. :))

Mikhail says that during the attack he stayed behind to pick up the person who was blast-injured by the grenade. “They grabbed me, dragged me in and started hitting me. They pulled me to the ground, put their feet on my head and took pictures. I was their entertainment,” said Gavrilyuk. “Everybody took turns hitting me. Then somebody suggested to cut my forelock off. They held my head and cut my forelock with a knife piece by piece.”

According to Havrilyuk, there were several policemen who appealed to the rest to stop hitting him after awhile, but nobody listened to them. “When they were bored with hitting me, they dragged me into their paddy wagon and took me to a police station. I was in and out of consciousness during the ride and an ambulance picked me up from the police station. The Afghans came to get me out of the hospital. Thanks to them I escaped from the hospital and later a guy from Automaidan drove me,” he said.

Havrilyuk said that he is still not feeling very well, but his morale is high.

“They made up a pathway and demanded me to go through it, but I didn’t follow their orders. I’m not stupid! And I’m a cossack. And this is my warning to the guys on the other side of the barricades: Cossacks don’t leach each other in trouble, they will avenge me and their revenge will be harsh.”

RELATED INFORMATION:

Another eye-view video just surface that we are adding to this post primarily because it shows how many police stood by and watched, knowing what is going on and not even attempting to intervene in any way.