Exhibition of Sushchenko’s drawings opens at Ukrinform agency

In general, over the two years of imprisonment at Moscow’s Lefortovo jail, the journalist sent more than twenty drawings made with a ballpoint pen, tea, pencil, onion peel, beet juice and ketchup, since prison rules do not allow prisoners to have art supplies.

After the opening of the exhibition, a press conference will be held with the participation of: First Deputy Chairperson of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, a representative in the TCG’s humanitarian subgroup, Iryna Herashchenko; Information Policy Minister Yurii Stets; Mark Feygin, the public defender of the journalist; family members of Roman Sushchenko; Ukrinform Director General Oleksandr Kharchenko.

As reported, Ukrinform 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 appeal against the sentence was filed on June 5. The Supreme Court of Russia upheld the verdict on September 12.

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