Ukraine: Russia’s sentencing of journalist Sushchenko unprecedented and inhumane
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman have commented on the 12 year prison sentence given by Russia to Ukrainian citizen Roman Sushchenko on charges of espionage.
“The unprecedented obscenity of the Russian ‘court’, which sentenced Ukrainian journalist Roman Sushchenko based on spurious charges, proves that the Kremlin regime will stop at nothing in its attempt to crush the spirit of Ukrainians. However, I am confident that Russia will inevitably be punished for its actions. With such ‘sentences’ the Kremlin demonstrates its panicky fear, openly admits to its own aggression against Ukraine, and condemns itself,” Poroshenko wrote on Facebook.
“Yet another senseless and inhumane sentence, baseless accusations and secretive trial. The Moscow City Court has recognized Ukrainian journalist Roman Sushchenko as a ‘spy’ and chosen 12 years of high-security prison as the means of punishment. It is hard for me to find words and comment on this further evidence of the rage and hate of the Russian state machine, which destroys human lives essentially without a trial. We will do everything we can under current conditions to release Roman and bring about justice,” Groysman commented.
On September 30, 2016, Roman Sushchenko, a correspondent of the Ukrinform news agency in France, was detained by the Russian Federal Security Service or FSB in Moscow, where he had gone to visit his cousin.
FSB employees stated that Sushchenko is allegedly an employee of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry.
Earlier Groysman said: “Russia is a wild animal, which must be put in a cage,” and Poroshenko called Russia and the countries that support it “a club of deranged suicides”.