IOC Concern Over Russia's Jailing Of Ecology Activist
Environmental activist Yevgeny Vitishko in a photo from mid-January
IOC Concern Over Russia's Jailing Of Ecology Activist
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has asked Russian authorities to clarify why an ecology activist in Sochi has been sentenced to three years in a penal colony.
IOC spokesman Mark Adams said on February 13 that Olympic organizers expect a response in the next day or two.
Yevgeny Vitishko, a vocal critic of the damage caused by the massive construction undertaken ahead of the Winter Olympics, was handed a three-year suspended sentence in 2012 for spray-painting the fence of a property in a forest where construction was banned.
In December, a court in Tuapse ruled that Vitishko should be sent to prison for violating his parole.
The true cost of Russia's first Olympics in more than three decades, and the most expensive games ever, goes well beyond the hefty $51 billion price tag. Read RFE/RL's Special Report.
A court on February 12 upheld that decision.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) has urged the IOC to press Russian authorities to free Vitishko, while Amnesty International considers him a "prisoner of conscience."
RFE/RL has been declared an "undesirable organization" by the Russian government.
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