Volodymyr Balukh. Photo: Aleksandra Efimenko. All rights reserved.
The string of criminal cases against Balukh began in spring 2015, when the security services conducted the first search of his home. FSB officers turned up at the home of Balukh and his civil partner Natalya on the pretext of some spare car parts having disappeared in the village. Six months later, they turned up again, and this time they not only searched the property but dragged him out onto the street, pushed him into a car and beat him up. They faced no sanction for this – on the contrary, it was Balukh who received 10 days detention for “failure to obey a police order”. The Russian siloviki just needed time for the bruises left on the farmer’s body to disappear.
