Vladyslav Yesipenko, a journalist of the Crimea. Realities project of the Ukrainian service of RFE/RL, was released after more than four years of imprisonment in Crimea. About this informs Radio Svoboda.
RFE/RL President and CEO Stephen Kapus stated that Yesipenko was tortured while in Russian custody:
“For more than four years, Vlad was arbitrarily punished for a crime he did not commit. He paid too high a price for revealing the truth about what was happening in Russian-occupied Crimea. For this, he was tortured, both physically and psychologically. As we celebrate his joyful reunion with his wife, Kateryna, and their young daughter, Stefania, we cannot ignore the pain that the Russian authorities have inflicted on this family.
RFE/RL expresses deep gratitude to the US and Ukrainian governments for cooperating with us to prevent the unjust imprisonment of Vlad. We also thank the global press freedom community for their tireless advocacy on behalf of dedicated RFE/RL journalists.” – noted Steven Kapus.
We will remind, Yesypenko was detained on March 12, 2021, together with Elizaveta Pavlenko, during a campaign for Taras Shevchenko’s birthday at Angarsky Pass in Crimea.
On March 16 of the same year, the FSB of Russia announced that the journalist allegedly collected information on the order of Ukrainian intelligence and made an improvised explosive device. The Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine called such statements a propaganda campaign timed to the anniversary of the occupation. On May 5, 2021, another article of the indictment was added to Yesipenko, and on July 6, the so-called “district court” controlled by the Russian Federation in Simferopol extended the term of his detention for another six months.
On February 16, 2022, the Russian-controlled Simferopol District Court handed down a sentence of six years in a general regime colony and a fine of 110,000 rubles in a case of illegal storage and transportation of explosives. The prosecutor’s office asked for 11 years of imprisonment. On August 18, 2022, the so-called Supreme Court in Crimea reduced the sentence to five years in prison with the same fine.
