Ukrainian anti-corruption campaigner Kateryna Gandzyuk, seriously injured in an acid attack in July, has died in hospital, supporters and the government said Sunday. "Katya (Kateryna) is dead. Details will be available in a while," posted a Facebook group that publishes updates about Gandzyuk's health and news on the investigation into the shock attack in the ex-Soviet country.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko confirmed the news and offered condolences to Gandzyuk's relatives at a meeting with representatives of the Ukrainian community in Turkey's Antalya, where he is on an official visit.
"I appeal to law enforcement officers to do everything possible so that the murderers of Kateryna Gandzyuk are found, put on trial and punished," Poroshenko tweeted. Johannes Hahn, the EU commissioner responsible for bloc enlargement negotiations and neighbourhood policy, said he was saddened by the news from Ukraine. "Attacks against civil society activists are unacceptable," Hahn tweeted.
Gandzyuk, 33, who worked as an adviser to the mayor of Ukraine's southern city Kherson, was leaving home early on the morning of July 31 when a man poured about a litre of acid over her and ran away.