US calls on Russia to release all Ukrainian political prisoners

“There remain several hundred Ukrainians detained by Russia and its proxies in eastern Ukraine, and many more Ukrainian political prisoners held in Crimea and Russia. We call for their immediate release,” Ambassador James Gilmore, the U.S. Permanent Representative to the OSCE said at the OSCE Permanent Council meeting in Vienna, an Ukrinform correspondent reported.

The U.S. Permanent Representative welcomed the news of the December 29 prisoner exchange, which included the return of captives from Russia-controlled Donbas, as agreed at the December 9 Normandy Format summit.

“In particular, we were relieved to see the release of Stanislav Aseyev and Oleh Halaziuk, two contributors to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty whose names we have mentioned frequently here at the Permanent Council. They were imprisoned for years in retaliation for their reporting about everyday life in the territories controlled by Russia-led forces,” he said.

The American diplomat expressed concern over the continued abuses in occupied Crimea, noting that the UN human rights monitoring mission in Ukraine reported about Crimean former prisoners, who had returned to Ukraine as part of the September prisoner exchange with Russia, and recounted horrifying abuses.

“We fear that the dozens of remaining Ukrainian political prisoners that Russia holds may be experiencing the same severe mistreatment. We call on Russia to release them and return them to their homes and families,” the U.S. Permanent Representative to the OSCE said.

The American diplomat underscored that the US concerned that Russian occupation authorities had extended the detention of Ukrainian activist Oleh Prykhodko, who was facing so-called “terrorism” charges in retaliation for peacefully exercising his right to free expression in protest of Russia’s occupation.

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