A Ukraine protest leader who says he was abducted and tortured has been granted a German visa, Berlin says.
Anti-government activist Dmytro Bulatov said his kidnappers drove nails through his hands and cut off part of his ear while they held him for eight days from January 22.
He has undergone medical treatment in Lithuania after he emerged bloodied from captivity, also claiming he was "crucified" by his unidentified assailants.
The 35-year-old father of three now wants to move as quickly as possible to Germany, where his parents live in the western city of Hagen, in North Rhine-Westphalia state, said a local newspaper.
The Rheinische Post daily quoted a letter from Benedict Poettering, head of the youth wing of the European Conservatives, to German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
Poettering wrote that Bulatov had told him by phone that he was planning to seek refuge and further medical treatment in Germany.
On Monday, a foreign ministry spokesman confirmed that "Mr Bulatov received a Schengen visa from the German embassy so he could leave Ukraine," which he did on February 2.
He also reiterated that Germany was seeking a peaceful resolution of the conflict in Ukraine, with the aim to avoid "a total escalation, a bloodbath in Kiev, on the Maidan (square), or elsewhere".
Bulatov is a leader of the "Automaidan" movement, which has organised motorcade protests outside President Viktor Yanukovych's sprawling country estate near Kiev.
