Ukrainians convicted in the Russian Federation on political grounds are increasingly not being released even after their prison terms have ended. Instead of returning home, new criminal cases are opened against them or they are placed in migrant detention centers.
This is reported by the Media Initiative for Human Rights.
For example, Chaplynka activist Volodymyr Yakymenko has been imprisoned for nine years. The man was detained in Crimea after drugs were planted in his car following his refusal to cooperate with the FSB. According to his common-law wife Diana Chaikovska, Yakymenko was asked to provide information about Ukrainian intelligence services.
In the Russian penal colony in the Saratov region, Yakymenko is constantly kept in a punishment cell. In protest he cut his veins, but he steadfastly refuses a Russian passport and to work for the needs of the occupying army (sewing uniforms or weaving nets).
According to the Crimean Tatar Resource Center, the situation with political prisoners remains critical – more than 350 Crimeans accused under “political” articles are held in Russian colonies and SIZO.
A further 29 people are considered missing.
Earlier we wrote that at the border guards’ base in Chongar the Russians set up a SIZO for hundreds of civilians.