Désir: I will make every effort to release Roman Sushchenko
He stated this while presenting his biannual report to the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna on July 4, an Ukrinform correspondent reported.
“I will continue to work relentlessly for the release of all concerned journalists across the OSCE region,” said Désir, recalling the OSCE Ministerial Council Decision on Safety of Journalists, which urges “the immediate and unconditional release of all journalists who have been arbitrarily arrested or detained, taken hostage or who have become victims of enforced disappearance.”
On June 4, on the anniversary of the illegal imprisonment of Ukrinform’s correspondent Roman Sushchenko, OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Harlem Désir once again called on the Russian authorities to release the journalist from prison.
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 said 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 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).
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