‘Grave miscarriage of justice’: United States urges to free journalist Yesypenko immediately
“Yesterday’s closed-door decision to extend the detention of journalist Vladyslav Yesypenko by a ‘court’ in Russia-occupied Crimea was a grave miscarriage of justice. We call on the occupation authorities to immediately free Yesypenko,” the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine posted on Twitter.
Вчорашнє рішення щодо продовження терміну утримання під вартою журналіста Владислава Єсипенка, винесеного на закритому засіданні "суду" в окупованому Росією Криму, стало серйозною судовою помилкою. Ми закликаємо окупаційну владу негайно #FreeYesypenko #CrimeaIsUkraine pic.twitter.com/MdCq772neO
— U.S. Embassy Kyiv (@USEmbassyKyiv) July 7, 2021
As reported, Vladyslav Yesypenko, a freelance journalist of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (Crimea. Realities project), covered social and ecological topics. He was detained by the Russian FSB in Crimea on March 10, 2021, on charges of gathering information “in the interests of the secret services of Ukraine” and storing a “self-made explosive device”.
The FSB claims that it detained Yesypenko “to prevent him from carrying out subversive actions in the interests of Ukrainian special services.”
In turn, the lawyer said that investigators, following the fingerprint analysis, did not find Yesypenko’s prints on the explosive allegedly found in his car.
On March 12, Yesypenko was taken into custody. On April 1, the so-called “Kyivsky District Court of Simferopol” extended his arrest until July 11. Lawyers were not allowed to see the detained journalist for 27 days. Yesypenko later said that he had been tortured by Russian security officers.
On July 6, a “district court” in the temporarily occupied Simferopol extended Yesypenko's arrest for another six months.
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