Kateryna Gandziuk was an activist and an outspoken deputy mayor of Kherson, a city of 290,000 residents in south Ukraine.
She suffered an acid attack in July 2018, and died in hospital in November.
Read more: Who killed Katya Gandziuk? A deep look into the case that shook Ukraine
The blatant murder shook Ukraine and became a litmus test for the country’s authorities. The investigation started from the arrest of the wrong person but under public pressure moved further and deeper, reaching the top of the local power structure.
The case of Kateryna Gandziuk
May 27
A forest fire starts near the town of Oleshky in Kherson Oblast, with more than 600 hectares of forest being destroyed in four days. Police open a criminal probe on arson.
July 6
Hundreds gather at Kherson main square, outraged by the region’s largest ever forest fire. Kherson Deputy Mayor Kateryna Gandziuk publicly blames the head of Kherson Oblast Council Vladyslav Manger and Kherson Governor Andriy Gordeev of profiteering from illegal wood sales.
July 31
An attacker doses Gandziuk with 1 liter of sulfuric acid, burning 40 percent of her body.
Aug. 3
Kherson police arrest local resident Mykola Novikov as a suspect of the attack. Novikov is released on Aug. 22 after journalists prove he had alibi and police find new suspects.
Late August
Police and officers of the SBU state security service arrest five suspects, all veterans of the Ukrainian Volunteer Army, an offshoot of the nationalist Right Sector battalion. Four of them later admit their guilt. Gandziuk’s friends accuse law enforcement of failing to search for those who ordered the attack.
Sept. 27
Hundreds gather at the Presidential Administration in Kyiv to protest against attacks on civic activists in Ukraine. Gandziuk addresses to the crowd by video from her hospital bed.
Nov. 4
Gandziuk dies in a Kyiv hospital of multiple organ failure, a direct result of the acid attack.
Nov. 5
Gandziuk’s friends publish on Facebook the name of a Kherson businessman, Ihor Pavlovsky, whom they accuse of being a middleman in the murder. Pavlovsky was an official aide of lawmaker from the pro-presidential Bloc of Petro Poroshenko faction in parliament, Mykola Palamarchuk.
Nov. 6
Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko accuses Gandziuk’s friends of hampering the investigation by revealing the name of a possible suspect.
Nov. 12
SBU officers arrest Pavlovsky in Kherson and bring him to Kyiv.
Dec. 4
Lutsenko says Oleksiy Levin is another suspect in Gandziuk’s murder. Levin is assistant of a deputy of Kherson Oblast Council, Mykola Stavytsky. Stavytsky is an advisor of Manger. Levin had left Ukraine in August.
Jan. 28
Gandziuk’s father accuses former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and President Poroshenko of covering up for their party members – Manger, Gordeev and Gordeev’s deputy Yevhen Ryshchuk. He accuses the three Kherson officials of ordering his daughter’s murder.
Feb. 9
Batkivshchyna expells Manger from the party. He goes on official leave until March 30.
Feb. 11
Lutsenko charges Manger with organizing Gandziuk’s murder. He says the investigation has evidence against Ryshchuk, but nothing against Gordeev.
Read more: Who killed Katya Gandziuk? A deep look into the case that shook Ukraine
