Several police officers are being investigated after five woman who were all reportedly members of the same Romani family were stripped and beaten with truncheons, despite two of them being pregnant.
The accused women were arrested at the Polytechnic Institute tube station in the northern Ukrainian capital Kiev and say they were dragged into a room at the nearby police station.
They told local media the cops forced the women to strip to their underwear and then beat them.
Pictures posted by one of the woman’s lawyers, Lyudmila Osnach, show large bruises on her arms and legs and a truncheon mark on the back of one of her relatives.
She said: “My client and her relatives were illegally detained by the police at a tube station. They took them to the police station where they stripped them down to their underwear and threatened to rape them.
“After that, one of the police chiefs, who was under the influence of alcohol, beat the women with a rubber baton. He kicked one of the pregnant women in the stomach, shouting that he is going to restore order on the underground.”
The pregnant woman was reportedly hospitalised and faces the possibility of a miscarriage.
Another alleged victim was admitted to hospital with a head injury while the police have confirmed that they are investigating the case.
Local reports say the women were of Romani decent.
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Story By: Sergey Panashchuk,  Sub-Editor:Michael Leidig,  Agency: Central European News
