SEVASTOPOL, October 19 (RIA Novosti) - The head of an international children's recreation center in Ukraine's Crimea has been hospitalized over heart problems following accusations that minors had been sexually assaulted in the camp, his spokeswoman said.
Lyudmila Lozovaya told the Ukrainskaya Pravda online edition that Boris Novozhilov had already "suffered a heart attack and two acute heart seizures" over the past three years.
The Artek camp on Ukraine's Black Sea coast has been in the focus of Ukrainian media reports since October 13, when Vadim Kolesnichenko, a lawmaker from Ukraine's opposition Party of Regions, said sexual abuse of minors took place at the camp and that top officials were involved.
Local media said three members of Ukrainian parliament were involved in the rapes, but the lawmakers dismissed the accusations. According to police, one suspect has been detained.
Located in the southern Crimea not far from the city of Yalta, Artek is famous as the main Soviet-era pioneer camp, which welcomed children all year round since the 1930s and even worked during World War II, when the center moved to Altai. The camp closed this winter due to financial problems, but resumed its work in February.
The rape scandal comes ahead of the presidential campaign in Ukraine, which is starting on Monday. Ukraine's presidential elections are scheduled to take place on January 17.
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