Two Ukrainian women have been arrested for allegedly dancing and twerking on fallen soldiers' graves on the country's Independence Day and face a jail term up to five years.
A video showing the two dancing next to a grave was published on social media on August 24, Ukraine’s Independence Day. The short clip shows at least one woman twerking in front of the camera while still standing near a grave with a photo of a man in military uniform, reported RT.com- a Russian government-funded television network.
According to the report, Ukrainian police claim they came across the clip on August 24 evening. “In less than an hour, law enforcement officers had established [the women’s] whereabouts and brought them to the police department,” a statement by the Kyiv police said on Friday, adding that the two sisters “face up to five years behind bars” on charges of “desecration of soldiers’ graves.”
The police later revealed that the “two sisters came to the … cemetery and decided to ‘honour’ the memory of the fallen… in such a way.” The authorities also published photos of the two women, still dressed in the same clothes they were wearing in the video, accompanied by a police officer. The identities of the women were not disclosed.
The original video post has since been removed from social media and one of the alleged suspects has apparently published an apology on Instagram, claiming that she and her sister had “visited the grave of [their] deceased father,” who was supposedly killed near the city of Izium, which was the scene of fierce battles between Russian and Ukrainian troops last year, the report added.
{{/usCountry}}The original video post has since been removed from social media and one of the alleged suspects has apparently published an apology on Instagram, claiming that she and her sister had “visited the grave of [their] deceased father,” who was supposedly killed near the city of Izium, which was the scene of fierce battles between Russian and Ukrainian troops last year, the report added.
{{/usCountry}}The woman then claimed that she and her sister were “aware of their deceased father’s position on the burial culture” and saw “nothing wrong” with their actions. It was “not particularly correct to publish such a video,” she said, adding that they were “sorry.”