Tortured Ukrainian activist Bulatov arrives in Lithuania for treatment

2014-02-03 275

ROUGH CUT (NO REPORTER NARRATION)

STORY: Ukrainian activist Dmytro Bulatov, 35, whose bloodied face and account of being "crucified" during a week in the hands of mysterious kidnappers has dominated opposition media this week, arrived in Lithuania on Sunday (February 2) evening for treatment.

Bulatov was immediately transported by ambulance from the airport to Vilnius University Hospital where he is expected to receive treatment.

Intense negotiations with Western diplomats had led to a court lifting a charge of "mass disorder" against him, on which police had tried to arrest him at a Kiev clinic.

The Ukrainian government bowed to intense Western pressure on Sunday to let an opposition activist fly abroad for treatment after his abduction, torture and then attempted arrest by police outraged critics of President Viktor Yanukovich.

The embattled head of state, caught in a tug of war between Russia and the West and facing mass protests that have prompted fear