ODESSA, Ukraine – In the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, a Jewish man named
Dmitry Flekman says two men who identified themselves as police officers
assaulted him at a police station while trying to extort money from him.
Flekman, aged 28, posted his story on the Ukrainian Jewish
website evreiskiy.kiev.ua.
He alleges the officers demanded $10,000 from him and
threatened to search his apartment where they would “find” cocaine. The
assailants reportedly beat him with something resembling a crowbar and when
they discovered he was Jewish they made him sit on the floor and urinated on
him.
The chief of police in Lviv denies that Flekman was beaten,
but the young man's claims are being investigated. As proof of the attack,
Flekman provided photos of his hospital release form, showing he needed medical
attention. He reportedly sustained a fractured tailbone.
Ukraine has a long history of anti-Semitism and reports
still occasionally surface of Jews being targeted for their religion. Last
month, FIFA censured Ukraine’s football fans for racist chants and making
neo-Nazi gestures.
Historically, before World War II, Lviv was a proudly
multicultural city with a thriving Jewish community. During the war, however,
western Ukraine was under the control of the Nazis and Ukrainian collaborators
who all but destroyed the community.
Today Western Ukraine is home to a nationalist movement and
is the base of power for opposition political party Svoboda, which means
freedom in Ukrainian. The group has made numerous anti-Semitic comments in the
past and has referred to Jews as "Zhids," which roughly translates in
English to “dirty Jews.”
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