Contents tagged with political prisoners

  • Ukraine calls on the world to increase pressure on Russia to free Sentsov

    The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine urged its international partners to increase pressure on Russia to free the Ukrainian director, Crimean Oleg Sentsov, who went on a hunger strike while staying in the penal colony in the Russian city of Labytnangi."The political prisoner Sentsov put his life on the line in order to free the hostages of the Kremlin. We call on partners to pressure Russia to free Sentsov," the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry's spokeswoman, Mariana Betsa wrote on Twitter.On …

  • Ukraine asks Russia to release more than 60 political prisoners

    The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has asked Russia to release more than 60 Ukrainian political prisoners, official Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Mariana Betsa said on Twitter.

    “At least 24 Ukrainians who were convicted for political reasons are imprisoned in Russia, and more than 40 in Russian-annexed Crimea. We once again demand that Russia release the prisoners,” Betsa tweeted.

    Earlier in April Iryna Herashchenko, First Deputy Chairwoman of the Verkhovna Rada and President’s Humanitarian Envoy …

  • Ukraine demands through UN that Russia immediately release journalist Sushchenko

    At a UN Committee session on Tuesday, the First Secretary of the Permanent Mission of Ukraine to the UN, Oleh Nikolenko, demanded that Russia immediately release journalist Roman Sushchenko. The Ukrainian representative urged Russia to stop persecuting representatives of media and activists in annexed Crimea, and to put an end to State propaganda and the incitement of hatred, a correspondent of Ukrinform reported.

    “Persecution of Ukrainian journalists is a tactic of war which Russia applies …

  • Kyiv proposes swapping 23 Russian prisoners for Ukrainians held captive in Russia

    Kyiv increased the number of Russians offered in exchange for Ukrainian citizens convicted in Russia. The earlier offer was for the release of 20 Russian citizens. Now, Ukraine’s representative in the Humanitarian Subgroup on Donbas [of the Trilateral Contact Group] Iryna Herashchenko voiced the proposal to release 23 Russians, Interfax-Ukraine reports.

    "Those Russians who were detained, in fact, as a result of the war for... participation in the conflict under the guise of so-called "militia" …

  • Herashchenko: Ukraine prepared to exchange 20 Russians for Ukrainians imprisoned in Russia

    Ukraine is prepared to swap twenty Russians currently held in Ukrainian prisons in exchange for the release of Ukrainian political prisoners in Russia.

    Iryna Herashchenko, First Deputy chairman of the Verkhovna Rada and Ukraine's representative to the humanitarian subgroup of the Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine, said that this issue will be raised on in Minsk on Wednesday, April 4.

    "The Working Group [is meeting] on April 4 in Minsk ... the second issue that we will raise there is the …

  • Ukrainian and German Foreign Ministers to discuss freeing of Ukrainian prisoners held captive in Russia

    The German Minister for Foreign Affairs, Sigmar Gabriel is set to visit Ukraine on January 3- 4 this year. During his visit, Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Pavlo Klimkin plans to discuss with him the issue of the release of Ukrainian political prisoners detained in Russian prisons.

    As the press service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine reports, "the role of Germany, together with France, under the Normandy format in countering Russian aggression will be a key subject of the …

  • Human rights activists: at least 52 people are political prisoners in annexed Crimea

    To date, 52 people are being held in detention centers in the annexed Crimea for political reasons; and since 2014, at least 70 people have become political prisoners, as reported in an expert study conducted by the Crimean Human Rights Group (CHRG), Krym.Realii reports.

    "To date, 52 people continue to be held in prisons and detention facilities in Crimea or Russia; three are under house arrest, and this figure is inconclusive, because there are other criminal cases in the Crimea in which …

  • Ukraine calls on Russia to stop repressions in Crimea

    Mariana Betsa, spokesperson for the Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Ministry, posted on Twitter that Ukraine reminds Russia of its reponsibility to put an end to the repression in annexed Crimea.

    "December 10th is a Human Rights Day. We demand that the Russian Federation stop repressions in the occupied Crimea and release all political prisoners and illegally detained persons," Betsa said. President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko said on International Human Rights Day that "the criminal aggression of …

  • Russian human rights lawyer Feygin appeals to Merkel and Macron for protection from persecution in Russia

    Mark Feygin, a Russian lawyer and defender of Ukrainian political prisoners in Russia and the Crimea appealed to European leaders asking them to protect him from persecution in his own country.Feygin wrote an appeal addressed to German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron, which he then handed over to Ukrinform.

    "By the will of the circumstances, Germany and France are involved in the settlement of the crisis in Ukraine through the quadripartite ‘Normandy format.’ This …

  • Lawyer of detained Ukrainian journalist Sushchenko says he will be sentenced to 20 years in Russian prison

    Russian courts will sentence Ukrainian journalist Roman Sushchenko to 20 years of imprisonment, stated his lawyer Mark Feygin.

    "Tomorrow, the wife and daughter of my client, Ukrainian journalist Roman Sushchenko will arrive to visit him. This will happen on the eve of the ‘court hearings’ where he is going to be sentenced to 20 years for ‘collecting information about the alleged Russian invasion of Ukraine’ [according to investigators] in the summer and fall of 2016," Feygin wrote on Twitter. …