Two women held in Dubai jail over naked balcony picture released from prison ‘hell’ – World News
The two last women held in jail in Dubai over a notorious naked balcony picture have been released from a jail “hell”.
Vogue model Evgenia Taran, 21, and another Ukrainian woman named Anastasia are back in Kyiv after being freed.
Evgenia called herself a “survivor” as she left Dubai – while Anastasia was held as she recovered from Covid-19.
Both women were in the group of 20-plus models invited on the trip by playboy organiser Vitaliy Grishin, 41, who remains in custody in Dubai.
(Image: Evgenia Taran)
Grishin – who holds a US passport – was previously pictured with a string of famous names including Barack Obama – to whom he was a financial donor – Hillary Clinton, George Clooney, and Sylvester Stallone.
Released, too, was a Russian man present when the shoot took place named Alexey Kontsov, 33, an IT company boss.
He was returning to Russia.
It was not immediately clear if Grishin remained in detention but he had been tipped to face a sentence of one and a half years over the scandal.
(Image: Alexander Zenchenko)
(Image: instagram)
The Vogue model admitted being part of the group – and admitted “my mistakes”.
“I was in Dubai detention centre, you probably know the story with the naked photos on the balcony, because you hear about it from every (outlet).”
She admitted she was filmed at the same piano in a luxury Dubai apartment that Grishin had played when he was surrounded by 20 naked women, mostly from Ukraine.
She told of the deprivations in jail and said: “I made a lot of conclusions, realised my mistakes and to some extent (I am) grateful for what happened.
(Image: Instagram)
“I am in Kyiv again, I love everyone, I hug. Appreciate what you have.”
She told her followers she had been locked up for 14 days over the naked picture, longer than all but one of the other women.
“The light was on 24/7 and there was endless knocking air conditioning,” she said.
“The lack of toilet paper, spoons, and human attitude from employees goes without saying.
“But the most terrible thing is ignorance, because your questions are not answered, and they allow you to contact the world according to their mood, and for money.”
She said: “The only thing that saved me there were the books I somehow managed to beg for.”
Other models released earlier said they were treated like “animals”.
The women were accused of offending public decency, and have been banned from Gulf countries for at least five years.
Taran has been pictured by Vogue HongKong and ZipMagazine Hong Kong.
She has appeared on the catwalk at Ukraine Fashion Week.
Photographer Alexander Ten flew out to Russia before Dubai police started rounding up the participants.
He is described as wanted by law enforcement in the United Arab Emirates.
Several Russian models escaped from Dubai before police rounded up the participants.
