UKRAINIAN POLITICAL PRISONERS IN RUSSIA

Verkhovna Rada (parliament) Human Rights Commissioner Liudmyla Denisova has urged EU Ambassadors to appeal to Russian President Vladimir Putin with the request to release Ukrainian political prisoners held in Russia and in temporarily occupied Crimea. More than 70 Ukrainian political prisoners are held in Russia and in the territory of the occupied Crimea, including Ukrinform correspondent Roman Sushchenko, who was sentenced to 12 years in prison on trumped-up espionage charges. Number of Ukrainian political prisoners in Crimea and Russia increased. Fifty eight persons were detained either in Crimea or under the charges linked to the peninsula. The above numbers do not include the prisoners illegally held in eastern Ukraine in the areas that the Ukrainian government does not control. Ukraine is ready for a transfer of Russian citizens who were arrested or convicted in Ukraine in exchange for the release of Ukrainian prisoners in Russia, as well as Ukraine’s disputed territories, the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic and the Lugansk People’s Republic.

UKRAINIAN PRISONERS IN RUSSIA Source: UCC