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| charcoal and gouache on watercolor paper by Liz Peterson |
Volodymyr Honcharenko wanted to educate and protect the Ukrainian citizens from environmental hazards. He was a scientist who helped compile reports for one of the few sources of data on nuclear contamination and safety of drinking reservoirs in the country, and was the head of an NGO called "For Citizen's Right to a Safe Environment". In September of 2012, Honcharenko gave a press conference to inform the public about a "chemical time bomb" of toxic metal waste being held in the Kryvyi district. The massive metal stockpile contained scrap once used in the production of a pesticide hexachlorobenzene, which was banned in the 60s after it was found to cause liver damage and other serious health problems. He was concerned that the waste metal would be cut and mixed with other metals and reused, and also that the location in which they were cutting the metal was very close to the drinking reservoir for a city.
Four days after Mr. Honcharenko went public with these concerns, a group of men blocked his vehicle and then pulled him out and brutally attacked him. He died three days later on Aug. 3, 2012. Several of his friends had reported that Honcharenko was receiving threats leading up to his death, and are convinced that his activism was the reason he was targeted. Since his death, the pile of metal has disappeared from its previous location and no progress has been made in finding his murderers .
Sources:
http://www.khpg.org/en/index.php?id=1344161969
http://www.khpg.org/en/index.php?id=1344173215
http://www.khpg.org/en/index.php?id=1364160190
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