Russia Frees Jailed RFE/RL Journalist

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News

WASHINGTON/BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – Ukrainian Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) journalist Vladyslav Yesypenko has been freed after four years in Russian custody “in occupied Crimea,” the U.S.-backed network said.

RFE/RL President and CEO Stephen Capus said Sunday that after “more than four years, Vlad was arbitrarily punished for a crime he did not commit. He paid too high a price for reporting the truth about what was taking place inside Russia-occupied Crimea. For that, he was tortured, physically and psychologically.”

Capus stressed, “While we celebrate his joyous reunion with his wife Kateryna and their young daughter Stefania, we cannot overlook this family’s pain at the hands of Russian authorities.”

His release follows the release of former RFE/RL journalist Ihar Karnei on June 21 and RFE/RL journalist Andrei Kuznechyk in February, “from unjust detention in Belarus thanks to the significant efforts of the Trump administration,” RFE/RL said.

Vladyslav Yesypenko, a Ukrainian citizen and journalist who contributed to Crimea. Realities, a regional news outlet of RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service, was detained by Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) in Simferopol on March 10, 2021, on suspicion of “collecting information for Ukrainian intelligence.”

Yesypenko left Crimea for mainland Ukraine with his family following the 2014 Russian annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula. He returned periodically to report for RFE/RL on the social and environmental situation on the peninsula, officials said.

OCCUPIED CRIMEA

On July 15, 2021, he was charged with “possession and transport of explosives,” a charge he steadfastly denies.

Months later, on February 16, 2022, a Russian judge in occupied Crimea sentenced him to six years in prison in a closed-door trial. “Prosecutors have since admitted that a grenade “found” in Vladyslav’s vehicle did not have his fingerprints on it, according to sources observing the trial,” RFE/RL recalled.

On August 18, 2022, the Moscow-controlled Supreme Court of Crimea shortened his prison term to five years.

During his trial, the journalist said he was tortured with electric shocks to extract a false confession. Recalling the torture, he said: “My eyes hurt and my brain almost boiled…I was ready to sign anything or tell them anything.”

In November 2022, a Ukrainian prosecutor launched criminal proceedings against a Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) officer for “unlawful detention and torture.”

Later in September 2023, the European Union announced sanctions on six individuals, including two judges and one prosecutor who took part in “the politically motivated proceedings against Vladyslav,” RFE/RL said. Additionally, two FSB officers “who are responsible for torturing the journalist” were charged, added the broadcaster.

SEVERAL AWARDS

Vladyslav Yesypenko has been recognized for “his courageous and incisive journalism. He is the recipient of a Free Media Award from the Fritt Ord Foundation and ZEIT-Stiftung for his reporting in Crimea following its illegal annexation by Russia,” RFE/RL added.

In 2022, he received the PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Award, which his wife, Kateryna, and his young daughter, Stefania, accepted.

“RFE/RL extends its deepest gratitude to the U.S. and Ukrainian governments for working with us to ensure that Vlad’s unjust detention was not prolonged. We also thank the global press freedom community for their tireless advocacy on behalf of RFE/RL’s dedicated journalists,” the network added

Ukrainian and international civil society groups such as Amnesty International, the  Committee to Protect Journalists, the Crimean Human Rights Group, Human Rights Watch, PEN America, and Reporters Without Borders, along with U.S. and Ukrainian officials, are among those who demanded his release.

RFE/RL is a private, independent international news organization whose programs — radio, Internet, television, and mobile — “reach a weekly audience of more than 47 million people in 23 countries,” the broadcaster said.

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