Feygin allowed to meet with Sushchenko

Public defender Mark Feygin has visited Ukrinform journalist Roman Sushchenko, illegally convicted in Russia, in a penal colony in the village of Utrobino in the Kirov region.

He wrote this on his Twitter account.

"I have just communicated with Roman Sushchenko, at VK-11 [Penal Colony No.11]. From now on, I was allowed to visit him in the colony. Roman has all things settled with household issues in a prison cell. He conveys his greetings to compatriots. He asked me to tell that the KAZKA band with their hit 'Plakala' tops the charts at VK-11!" he wrote.

As reported, Ukrinform's Paris-based correspondent Roman Sushchenko was illegally detained on September 30, 2016 in Moscow, where he arrived on a private trip. On October 7, 2016, he was charged with "espionage." Russia's FSB claimed that Sushchenko is a member of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry. The latter denied this allegation.

On June 4, 2018, the Moscow City Court sentenced Sushchenko to 12 years in a high-security penal colony. The Supreme Court of Russia upheld the verdict on September 12.

On October 8, it was reported that Sushchenko had been moved to a penal colony. On November 7, the Russian Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) informed Ukraine's Embassy in Moscow that Sushchenko had been transferred to Penal Colony No. 11 of the FSIN directorate for the Kirov region (the town of Kirovo-Chepetsk, the village of Utrobino).

On December 17, it was reported that the prison administration in Kirovo-Chepetsk was not going to allow Feygin to visit his client. The lawyer told Ukrinform that if that happens, he would appeal this decision in various instances.