Foreign Ministry: Nine journalists from Crimea held in Russian prisons

"From the first days of the occupation, Russia began reprisals against free professional journalism in Crimea. To date, independent journalism on the peninsula has been completely destroyed as a phenomenon. In these circumstances, the phenomenon of civic journalism emerged, when ordinary people with an active civic stance took over the functions of the media, filling the vacuum of independent and impartial coverage of the situation on the occupied peninsula ... Currently, nine civic journalists are being held illegally in Russian prisons, and one is under house arrest. These are Server Mustafayev, Tymur Ibrahimov, Marlen Asanov, Seyran Saliyev, Remzi Bekirov, Ruslan Suleymanov, Osman Aryfmemetov, Rustem Sheikhaliyev, Amet Suleymanov," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine posted on Facebook.

The Foreign Ministry also reminded that Russian FSB officers detained Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s freelance journalist Vladyslav Yesypenko in the temporarily occupied Simferopol on March 10.

"For their civic stance and journalistic activities, activists are persecuted and imprisoned on ‘terrorism’ charges, facing 20 years in prison or even more," the Foreign Ministry stressed.

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".

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