Two Ukrainian prisoners being held in Russian penal colonies were transferred to Moscow
According to Radio Svoboda, Gennady Afanasiev’s lawyer, Alexander Popkov, reported that the two illegally convicted Ukrainians, Gennady Afanasiev and Yury Soloshenko, were transferred from penal colonies where they were serving their sentences to the Lefortovo detention center in Moscow. Afanasiev was brought from Syktyvkar by plane and Soloshenko came by train from Nizhny Novgorod.
Popkov hopes that the transfer of his defendant is connected with the extradition process that was initiated by Ukrainian Foreign Ministry. Zoya Svetova, a member of the Moscow Public Monitoring Committee, reported on the Open Russia website that the detainees were brought to Moscow on the 2nd of May. No one has explained to the prisoners why they are in a Moscow detention center again.
“On the 30th of April, I was taken from the colony where I was serving my sentence in a solitary cell. I sat for two days in the basement of the detention center in Syktyvkar without a mattress, bed linen or food. Then, they got me on the plane and brought me to Lefortovo,” Svetova quoted Afanasiev as saying.
She also stated that according to the official report, Afanasiev and Soloshenko were brought to Lefortovo under Article 77 of the Criminal Executive Code for investigating acts and judicial proceedings.
Svetova noted that no investigations were carried out with Ukrainians yet. Earlier, the Agency requested the extradition of four Ukrainians—Oleg Sentsov, Oleksandr Kolchenko, Gennady Afanasiev and Yury Soloshenko—to their homeland. Afanasiev and Soloshenko have already applied for this.
Oleg Sentsov and Oleksandr Kolchenko, who are still imprisoned in Russia, have already submitted all required documents for extradition to Ukraine.