U.S. Calls On Russia To Release Dozens Of Political Prisoners
By RFE/RL
WASHINGTON – The United States has called on Russia to release dozens of people it says have been identified by rights groups as political prisoners.
The June 18 statement by the State Department said more than 150 people were being held in all, including Ukrainian filmmaker Oleh Sentsov and human rights activist Oyub Titiyev.
Sentsov was arrested in Crimea in 2014, after Russia seized the Ukrainian region. A Russian court in 2015 convicted him of planning to commit terrorist acts and sentenced him to 20 years in prison. He has been on hunger strike since May 14.
Titiyev, who heads the Chechen office of the rights group Memorial, has been pretrial detention in Chechnya since his January arrest on drug charges that he and his associates say are fabricated.
“We call on Russia to release all those identified as political or religious prisoners immediately and cease its use of the legal system to suppress dissent and peaceful religious practice,” the statement said.
There was no immediate reaction to the statement by Moscow. In the past, the Foreign Ministry has responded with angry denunciations, accusing Washington of meddling in its internal affairs.
The State Department also mentioned the case of a Jehovah’s Witness who it said had been in pretrial detention for more than a year now. Other religious followers facing pressure include Church of Scientology followers and those of a Muslim Turkish theologian, the department said.
Crimean Court Again Postpones Verdict On Crimean Tatars Charged For Protest
By the Crimea Desk of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service
A court in the Russia-annexed peninsula of Crimea has for the third time postponed a ruling on five Crimean Tatars charged with organizing an illegal demonstration four years ago.
The Central District Court in Simferopol gave no explanation on June 18 for putting off the hearing until the following day.
The five men -- Ali Asanov, Mustafa Degermendzhy, Eskendir Kantemirov, Eskendir Emirvaliev, and Arsen Yunusov -- were among a group who staged a protest outside the regional legislature in February 2014.
The demonstration occurred as Russia moved to seize control of the Black Sea region following street protests in the Ukrainian capital that forced the country’s pro-Russian president to flee.
The five were arrested and charged in late 2015.
Akhtem Chiygoz, the well-known leader in the Crimean Tatars’ local assembly, was also charged for his participation in the protest.
He was sentenced to eight years in prison in September 2017, but weeks later he was taken to Turkey and freed. He later moved to Kyiv.
Moscow’s annexation of Crimea in March 2014 was vocally opposed by the Crimea Tatar population, who make up a sizable minority of the peninsula.
That concludes our live-blogging of the Ukraine crisis for Monday, June 18, 2018. Check back here tomorrow for more of our continuing coverage.
Ukrainian Ombudswoman Not Allowed To Meet With Ukrainian Journalist Held In Russia
By RFE/RL
Ukrainian ombudswoman Lyudmyla Denisova was not allowed to meet with Ukrainian journalist Roman Sushchenko in a Moscow detention center, the Ukrainian parliament's deputy speaker says.
Iryna Herashchenko wrote on Facebook on June 18 that despite a court’s ruling allowing Denisova to see the journalist, she was not allowed to see him and her written request to see Sushchenko had been sent for approval to the Federal Penitentiary Service.
On June 4, the Moscow City Court found Sushchenko guilty of espionage and sentenced him to 12 years in a strict-regime prison. Sushchenko maintains his innocence, saying the case against him is politically motivated.
Last week, Denisova was not allowed to see two other Ukrainian citizens: Oleh Sentsov in a penitentiary in the far-northern Yamalo-Nenets region, and Mykola Karpyuk in a penal colony in the Vladimir region.
Sentsov is a Crimea native who is serving a 20-year prison term in Russia after being convicted on terrorism charges that he and human rights groups say were politically motivated. He started a hunger strike on May 14, demanding the release of 64 Ukrainian citizens he considers political prisoners.
Karpyuk, who also denies any wrongdoing, was sentenced to 22 years in prison in 2016 after a court in Russia's Chechnya region found him guilty of fighting alongside Chechen separatists in the 1990s.
On May 15, Russian Ombudswoman Tatyana Moskalkova said that Denisova's attempt to meet with Sentsov violated "agreements reached previously."
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on June 18 that he is not aware of why Denisova was unable to meet with Sentsov.