KIEV, Jan. 22 – A protester who was abducted with a prominent journalist on Tuesday and tortured by thugs was found dead on Wednesday in the woods outside Kiev, police reported.

Yuriy Verbytskiy, who needed the attention of a doctor for an eye injury, was abducted by 10 thugs directly from a state hospital.

Ihor Lutsenko, the journalist and a protest activist, was abducted and tortured with Verbytskiy. The thugs later let him go following 20 hours of captivity and torture after staging a mock execution.

Verbitskiy’s brother recognized the body in the Boryspil morgue, Radio Liberty reported.

Meanwhile, Dzerkalo Tyzhnia reported that two bodies were found in the woods, both had signs of torturing. One body is yet to be identified.

The two deaths bring the overall toll to seven on Wednesday. Four protesters were shot dead during clashes with riot police, while another died after falling from atop of a nearby building during the confrontation.

Lutsenko, with brain concussion, bruises on the face and fractured heel, is now treated at the private Boris hospital. He described his ordeal at a short press conference late Tuesday.

Lutsenko said the thugs beat and tortured Verbytskiy and him in order to find out who has been financing the anti-government protest.

“They fail to understand that the people joining the protests are not there for money!” Lutsenko said.

"Then they took us 20-30 kilometers away and threw us into something like a metal garage with metal floor. It was very cold.

"In the garage we spent a long time, probably 10-11 hours. We were able to talk.

“Then they took me in a car and drove for an hour. Again, I thought this is it for me. It was an abandoned area and I had a plastic bag around my head.

“They put me on my knees and with my forehead facing a pine tree, and told me to pray. I prayed.

“And then they disappeared. (tl/ez)