Captive Ukrainian escapes from DPR prison
Police of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic announced the search for Ukrainian Grigory Sinchenko, arrested by militants in October 2019 in Donetsk, his mother Tatiana Gulevskaya told the Ukrainian news agency Ukrinform by phone.
"According to the local TV channel, the reports about the escape are shown in the video news of the DPR Interior Ministry. Those who provide the information about the hiding place are promised a reward. Representatives of the special services were at my mother's house. They threatened her, me, my son. They said if they found him, they wouldn't let him out alive," Gulevskaya said.
The photo, which is shown by a local TV channel, shows traces of burns on Sinchenko's face. His mother is sure that her son was tortured by the militants again.
In a comment for Radio Liberty, the woman stated that she did not believe her son could have escaped and suspected that he might have been killed, and that the DPR police fabricated the story about the escape to cover up the crime.
In the video repot of the DPR Interior Ministry, the DPR officials say that Sinchenko is wanted for committing a "serious crime."
Sinchenko, 25, was first arrested in Donetsk on December 2, 2016. He was charged with engaging in guerrilla warfare, illegal possession of weapons and blowing up the transmitter of a local Phoenix mobile operator. In December 2017, Sinchenko, together with 74 prisoners, returned to Ukraine as part of prisoner swap.
According to Sinchenko's mother, he decided to avenge his brutal torture and returned to Donetsk, where he was captured again. Until the "news" appeared, the family did not know exactly where he was.