The international community recognized the case of the Crimean journalist as an example of political repression

The International Coalition has included the case of Vladyslav Yesypenko in the list of the most serious violations of press freedom. The journalist has been imprisoned for more than four years, alleging torture, and his arrest was condemned by Ukraine and the United States.

This was reported by Krym.Realii.

The international coalition One Free Press Coalition included the case of Ukrainian journalist Vladislav Yesypenko in its monthly list of the 10 most urgent cases of violation of press freedom in the world. Yesypenko, a freelancer for the Krym.Realii (Radio Liberty) project, was convicted in Russia on trumped-up charges and has been behind bars for more than four years.

According to the coalition, Yesypenko is one of at least 18 Ukrainian journalists from the occupied Crimea who are being held in Russia for political reasons. He was accused of having ties to Ukrainian special services and transporting explosives. In March 2021, the journalist was detained by the FSB. He was later sentenced to five years in prison and fined 110 thousand rubles. Yesypenko himself reported torture by Russian security forces, including the use of electric shocks.

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry called the verdict politically motivated, and the US State Department called it another example of the abuses of the occupation authorities in Crimea.

The list of the most severe violations of press freedom also includes journalists from Belarus, Hong Kong, Myanmar, the Philippines, Vietnam, Azerbaijan, China, Kyrgyzstan and Turkey. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), at the end of 2024, 361 journalists were imprisoned worldwide, 41 more than a year earlier.

Last year, two journalists - Evan Gershkovich (WSJ) and Alsa Kurmasheva (Radio Liberty) - were released from the list after an exchange between the United States and Russia.

In November 2024, the international human rights organization Freedom Now submitted a petition to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in defense of the freelancer Vladyslav Yesypenko, who was convicted in Crimea by the Russian authorities.

Анна Бальчінос