This is video from a Ukrainian online news site.
It shows the town counselor in the eastern city of Horlivka last week.
The website says he tried to remove the flag of pro-Russian separatists from town hall.
'Over my dead body', one of the men yells at him in the video.
'Kill this so-and-so' someone says.
He seems to walk away but within hours, he would be dead.
Police say his tortured body was discovered in a river.
They think he was dumped alive and left to drown.
In nearby Slaviansk, the latest flashpoint for separatists, a representative for the armed group says his men weren't responsible for what happened to the counselor.
(SOUNDBITE) (Russian) SLAVIANSK SEPARATIST REPRESENTATIVE, YEVGENY GORBIK, SAYING, (REGARDING MISSING HORLIVKA CITY DEPUTY VOLODYMYR RYBAK):
"Maybe it's a criminal argument or maybe it's political, most likely it's revenge. Maybe he started to cooperate, who knows?"
The city councilor's apparent
