Mysterious Death of Volunteer Oleksiy Kuchapin

A well-known volunteer, Oleksiy Kuchapin, the Head of the “House of Mercy” (“Budynok Myloserdia”) organisation, was found dead in Kyiv. He left home on 16 July and disappeared. The statement about his disappearance was submitted to law enforcement agencies by his wife.

According to the Kyiv National Police, the body of a 39-year-old man was found in one of the apartments he rented in the Desnianskyi district.

The police noted that “during a preliminary examination of the body, forensic scientists did not find any external signs of a violent death. The final cause of death will be determined after a forensic examination.”

Meanwhile, Kuchapin’s family and like-minded people are paying attention to the unusual details of the event, noting that it may be an attempt to cover up the murder. On the eve of Kuchapin’s disappearance, they actually threatened to help homeless people. In addition, Oleksiy, according to acquaintances, has recently been investigating cases related to the export of children, trying to help orphaned girls escape from slavery.

On 16 July, Kuchapin told his friends he was traveling from Kyiv to Dnipro, but suddenly turned off his phone, did not communicate on social media, and the website of the organization he headed stopped working.

Volunteer priest Zakhariya Kerstyuk, a friend and supporter of Oleksiy, wrote on his Facebook page that near the house where the body was found, they noticed a bloody sofa in a landfill, which they had previously seen in an apartment rented by Kuchapin.

In addition, the apartment itself was thoroughly washed, and the keys were given to the owner without sealing the flat during the investigation. The investigator did not get in touch for a long time in this case and ignored the calls of Kuchapin’s relatives and friends.

The day before, immediately after the report that Kuchapin’s body had been found, Zakhariya Kerstyuk wrote: “Now, the ‘railway station’ threats to kill us all are turning out a reality! They kept their word and began to slowly remove those who (in their opinion) destabilised the situation inside the people they held in slavery.”

It should be recalled that Kuchapin and other volunteers fought for a long time with law enforcement officers, who did not allow activists to feed the homeless, orphans and the disabled at the central Kyiv railway station.

Volunteers also helped elderly people whose Kyiv apartments had been taken away illegally. The “House of Mercy” organised and provided systematic assistance for the resocialisation of homeless people with disabilities or mental retardation and the homeless.

Bohdan Marusyak