Christian Publisher Brutally Attacked in Ukraine, Escapes with Life

Kiev, Ukraine – A brutal attack on a Christian book publisher in Ukraine has underscored the high stakes struggle over human rights and religious liberty in the former Soviet republic preparing for a re–run of a sharply contested presidential election.

On December 2, two unidentified men assaulted Stanislav Kasprov, director of the Smirna publishing house, outside company offices in Cherkassy, a city 110 miles south of Kiev. They thrashed Kasprov with a baseball bat, leaving him bloodied and barely conscious.

Till date, Kasprov’s assailants remain at large and their motives are unknown. Evidence suggests, however, that former operatives of the now defunct KGB may have perpetrated the assault.