A Ukrainian journalist is released from Russian custody in occupied Crimea
A Ukrainian journalist is released from Russian custody in occupied Crimea (Image: AP)
Ukrainian Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty journalist Vladyslav Yesypenko was released Sunday after more than four years in Russian custody in Crimea, according to RFE/RL.
Yesypenko was arrested and jailed on March 10, 2021, in Crimea, which was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014, on suspicion of gathering intelligence for Ukraine, a charge he denied.
In February 2022, a Russian-installed court in Crimea sentenced the dual Russian-Ukrainian citizen to six years on espionage charges that he, his employer and rights groups said were fabricated. Months later, he was also charged with possessing explosives - a claim he denies. Prosecutors later acknowledged the grenade found in his car did not bear his fingerprints.
The top Moscow-controlled court in Crimea later reduced Yesypenko's sentence to five years.
During his trial, he testified that he was tortured with electric shocks to extract a false confession.
"For more than four years, Vlad was arbitrarily punished for a crime he did not commit. He paid too high of a price for reporting the truth about what was taking place inside Russia-occupied Crimea," RFE/RL chief executive Stephen Capus said, adding that Yesypenko had been "tortured, physically and psychologically."
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Capus thanked the US and Ukrainian governments for "working with us to ensure that Vlad's unjust detention was not prolonged."
In a post on Telegram, Ukrainian presidential aide Andriy Yermak thanked everyone who helped secure Yesypenko's release.
He was freed shortly after longtime RFE/RL correspondent Ihar Karnei was released from prison in Belarus, following a rare visit by a senior US official.
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