Ukraine on trial over handling of rich kids in gang-rape horror

But Ms Makar managed to survive and her mother’s quest to bring her attackers to justice has highlighted corruption in the former Soviet republic’s political system and boosted a campaign for wide-reaching reform.

Two of her three alleged attackers were released by police, apparently because their parents had political connections.

However, thanks to a national protest campaign, police eventually re-arrested her alleged attackers and charged all three with rape. The youth kept in custody was also charged with attempted murder.

Ms Makar remains in hospital having suffered burns over more than half of her body and severe damage to her lungs. Her right arm had to be amputated to stop the spread of gangrene.

One of the suspects, identified only as Yevhen K, told investigators he and his two friends did have sex with Ms Makar, but only admitted to one count of rape. After she threatened to call police, the suspect said he first tried to strangle her with his bare hands and then finish her off with a piece of white cable he found in the apartment. She lost consciousness.

The suspect said he and his friends wrapped her body in a blanket and dumped it into a pit at the disused building site. He said he then dropped a lit pillow case into the pit.

Afterward, he said, they went home and changed into new clothes, bought vodka at a store and went to a food kiosk, where one suspect ordered tea and the other a beer.

Ms Makar was only saved when a car happened to stall right next to the site and the motorist came to her aid.

Interior minister Vitaly Zakharchenko has confirmed that the parents of two of the suspects were former government officials in the Mykolaiv region.

Ms Makar’s mother, Tetyana Surovitska, accused police of freeing them because of their parents’ connections.

“Where is justice?” Mrs Surovitska said in an interview with a television channel. “Is it because I don’t have cars and apartments and connections and I cannot turn to anyone?”

She won overwhelming support not only in Mykolaiv but across Ukraine from people tired of seeing government officials and their children go unpunished for violent crimes, including assault and fatal road accidents.

There have been dozens of cases of so-called “mazhory” – or rich brats – driving expensive cars while drunk and hitting pedestrians, sometimes killing them, and walking away, said political analyst Volodymyr Fesenko. The same thing often happens in Russia and other countries of the former Soviet Union.

“Unfortunately, this situation is typical of most post-Soviet countries when either connections or corruption is used: A high-ranking official makes a call or money is paid to a senior police official, and a person who committed a serious crime is set free,” Mr Fesenko said.

“The Ukrainian justice system is dependent on those with power and money.”

Ms Makar’s case clearly struck a nerve among Ukrainians, setting off several protests in Mykolaiv and elsewhere.

During one rally in Mykolaiv, activists protested outside the offices of prosecutors and police, demanding they punish the alleged rapists and the officers who released the two suspects.

Ms Makar remains in hospital in Donetsk, where she was operated on this week by a burns specialist from Switzerland. She remains in critical condition.