The Russian cassation court refused to reduce the prison term of Ukrainian journalist and political prisoner Hennadii Osmak, leaving in force the decision of the occupation court to serve the sentence in a maximum-security colony.
This was reported by the Institute of Mass Information.
Earlier, Osmak was transported for two months to a maximum-security colony № 6 in the settlement of Melekhovo in the Vladimir region of Russia. During the transfer he suffered physical and psychological torture, and was completely deprived of contact with his family. Only after arriving at the colony did he manage to briefly inform his relatives of his whereabouts, IMI writes.
In addition, it has become known that Hennadii Osmak has been denied access to life-saving medications for treating diabetes. His family is unable to send medicines to the colony, which has significantly worsened his health and poses a direct threat to his life.
The lawyer repeatedly insisted on reducing the prison term, stressing that the journalist had no connection to the charges brought by the occupation authorities. However, the court rejected the cassation appeal, IMI writes.
Before the full-scale invasion, Hennadii Osmak lived in Henichesk and worked as the head of the local publication “Novyi Vizyt”.
The Russians illegally detained him in March 2024. He was charged with participating in the Crimean Tatar battalion named after Noman Chelebidzhikhan, which Russia calls a “terrorist organization”. The occupation court sentenced him to 3 years and 2 months in prison.