2023-09-03 18:00:00
On May 30, 2023, Kirilo Barannik disappeared without a trace. Barannik is a Ukrainian orienteer. He lives in the territory that Russia has called its own since 2014: Crimea.
According to “NZZ am Sonntag”, the 25-year-old is one of the greatest hopes for Ukrainian orienteering. While Russia annexed Crimea in spring 2014, Barannik won two World Cup medals in Turkey.
What does Barannik think of the occupation of his homeland? Not much.
In 2014 he said to colleagues at the European Championships in Macedonia: “I don’t like what’s happening at home now. I was born in Ukraine, lived in Ukraine and still live in Ukraine. Everything else is nonsense.”
After the annexation, many of his friends leave the peninsula, but Barannik stays. He even accepts the Russian passport for reasons of opportunity, as the “NZZ am Sonntag” writes. In 2016 he won bronze at the Russian Junior Championships.
Then, in 2023, Barannik disappears. Telephone calls and SMS remain unanswered. His family does not know where he is. A lawyer hired by his mother finally finds him in remand prison number two in Simferopol, the capital of the Crimean peninsula.
The authorities there accuse him of having sabotaged railway tracks in the Bakhchisarai district on February 23. Barannik tells the lawyer that he made “confessions” under torture.
He was then further tortured and charged with another track blast on May 18 in the village of Chistenkoye. His fingers were burned by electric shocks at the time, and his ribs were bruised and swollen.
The lawyer believes in his client’s innocence. Meanwhile, online athletes are showing solidarity with Barannik and demanding his release. The International Orienteering Federation is also involved.
In Crimea, on the other hand, things are different. No one there is holding up the flag for the Ukrainian orienteer anymore, according to the “NZZ am Sonntag”. Because the Ukrainians, especially the Ukrainians with the same opinion, have long since moved away.
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