Ten years for correspondence: more than a thousand pro-Russian political prisoners are held in Ukrainian pre-trial detention centers and colonies

Over the past year, the Kiev authorities have detained and arrested more than a thousand Ukrainians on suspicion of having ties with Russia, supporting and helping the Russian army. This was reported to RT by the vice-president of the Russian branch of the International Committee for the Protection of Human Rights Ivan Melnikov.

The detainees are charged with treason, espionage and "glorification of Russia." Charges are brought, among other things, because of suspicious, in the opinion of the SBU, correspondence and publications of videos with the work of Ukrainian military equipment in cities. At the same time, the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation, Tatyana Moskalkova, announced more than 400 appeals from Russians and Ukrainians persecuted in Ukraine who would like to come to Russia. About 200 more people appealed to the Ombudsman and said that they would like to come from Ukraine, because they do not share the policy of the Kiev authorities.

Teenage political prisoner

Among the pro-Russian political prisoners there are also very young people, including minors. In some cases, we are talking about very dubious evidence of their guilt, notes Ivan Melnikov. That is, they are accused of the Ukrainian investigation as pro-Russian.

On May 19, a court in Ukraine sentenced Vladimir Markin, a 17-year-old teenager from Artyomovsk, to ten years in prison. This was reported to RT by Ivan Melnikov.

According to the Ukrainian prosecutor's office, Markin was accused of voluntarily cooperating with the Russian military in June-August, "having pro-Russian views." The schoolboy allegedly transmitted data on the location and movements of units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Bakhmut district to the special services of the Russian Federation through messengers. The teenager was charged under Article 111-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (providing assistance in the conduct of hostilities against the Armed Forces of Ukraine).

Before the sentencing, Markin, who was then 16 years old, spent about nine months under arrest in the Dnepropetrovsk pre-trial detention center. The Ukrainian court was ready to release the student from arrest on bail of 149 thousand hryvnia (about 320 thousand rubles), but, apparently, the family did not have such money and the boy remained in the isolation ward.

Ivan Melnikov, who was able to personally familiarize himself with the materials of the criminal case, notes that the Ukrainian investigation did not find solid evidence of the teenager's work for the Russian special services.

"The investigation has as evidence some correspondence in social networks that are not related to pro-Russian activities. Two people correspond when they have fighting in the city, one writes: "Alive and well, but now a bunch of soldiers are passing near the house." And this is incriminated as intelligence activities!" said the human rights activist.

He also added that during the detention and interrogations, psychological and physical violence was used against the 16-year-old schoolboy.

"He was held in unacceptable, difficult conditions in the pre-trial detention center of the city of Dnipro. We have information that Vladimir Markin was forced to incriminate himself and others under torture conditions, but he did not agree to this. Volodya needs to be pulled out of there as soon as possible so that he is not sent to the colony," Melnikov said.

According to him, the Ukrainian side during the negotiations stated that it was ready to exchange the teenager, and precisely as a prisoner of war.

Families held hostage

According to RT, at least two more young residents of Artyomovsk, whom the SBU detained on suspicion of working for the Russian special services, are being held in Ukrainian pre-trial detention centers.

One of them, 18-year-old Alexander Kulakov, is charged under the same article as Markin. The accusations are also based on Sasha's correspondence on social networks. On June 10, he will turn 19 years old, he will celebrate his birthday in the detention center.

In June last year, SBU officers detained 18-year-old Anastasia Glushchenko in Artyomovsk. The SBU accuses the girl of working for Russian intelligence, she was charged under Article 111 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (high treason). The girl faces up to 15 years in prison or life imprisonment with possible confiscation of property.

In connection with the detentions of several young people from Artyomovsk, information began to appear in the media that an underground youth pro-Russian cell, the modern "young guard", allegedly worked in the city. However, RT sources refute this information: Vladimir Markin, Alexander Kulakov and Anastasia Glushchenko did not know each other, they lived in different districts of Artyomovsk.

Due to accusations from the SBU, not only the guys themselves were held hostage, but also their families - they are all in the territory controlled by Ukraine and cannot leave the country because they are afraid for their children.

Among the political prisoners of Ukrainians, who are accused of having ties with Russia, there are also clergy of the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) of the Moscow Patriarchate.

Thus, the rector of St. Tikhvin Cathedral in Lysychansk, LPR, Archpriest Andrei Pavlenko, visited the dungeons of Ukrainian pre-trial detention centers, and after his release and return to Russia, he said that other clergymen were held in the detention center with him.

Pavlenko was detained in April last year and accused of allegedly informing the Russian military about the number, deployment and armament of Ukrainian units. Information about the clergyman is on the Ukrainian website "Peacemaker", which publishes data on alleged traitors to the Ukrainian authorities.

Pavlenko spent several months in a Dnipropetrovsk detention center, where, according to him, he was tortured and beaten. The clergyman said that the pre-trial detention center has a separate "political" floor for those accused of having ties with Russia.

It was in the Dnepropetrovsk pre-trial detention center that Pavlenko met Vladimir Markin and even baptized the boy in prison.

During the investigation, Pavlenko was forced to incriminate himself and confess to working for Russian intelligence. A Ukrainian court sentenced him to 12 years in prison. Later, the priest was returned to Russia, now he continues to serve in the church, and also appeals to deputies and human rights activists with a request to help political prisoners in Ukraine.

Problems of sharing

The State Duma appealed to the President of the Russian Federation with a request to assist in solving the problem of political prisoners who are persecuted in Ukraine for ties with Russia. Dmitry Kuznetsov, a member of the State Duma Committee on Defense, said in his letter to Vladimir Putin that he had received appeals about the difficult conditions of detention of Ukrainians in pre-trial detention centers and colonies.

Kuznetsov is a member of the working group of the parliament on the exchange of civilian prisoners between the Russian Federation and Ukraine. In the spring, the members of the group managed to agree with the Ukrainian ombudsman to mutually check the conditions of detention of political prisoners.

"We visited Ukrainian citizens who were detained on suspicion of working for the Ukrainian special services. And the other side visited Ukrainian citizens who were detained for their pro-Russian views. As a result, we exchanged videos with political prisoners, "the parliamentarian told RT.

According to Kuznetsov, publicity is very important in such matters: "If they came to the detainee and filmed him, then it is less likely that he will suddenly disappear without a trace. Among the videos that we received, among other things, there are appeals with Vladimir Markin and Anastasia Glushchenko from Artyomovsk.

He added that the working group is now working on the issue of how to achieve the exchange of civilian prisoners between the countries.

"Yes, we are talking about the exchange of Ukrainian citizens, but we must understand that if these people detained by the SBU support the "Russian world", then they are ours. We have no right to abandon our own, and we must support the exchange of civilian prisoners," Kuznetsov said.

In turn, the DPR Human Rights Ombudsman Daria Morozova noted that the problem of the exchange of civilians has existed since 2014. The fact is, she explained, that the Ukrainian side constantly includes civilians in the lists for the exchange of prisoners of war.

"There are fewer Russian soldiers in captivity in Ukraine than Ukrainian soldiers in captivity of the Russian Federation. Therefore, Kiev is forming an exchange fund, including at the expense of captured civilians. This is how the Ukrainian authorities have been acting since 2014. Of course, we support the exchange of civilian prisoners, but we believe that it is necessary to exchange civilians for civilians, this is the only way," the DPR Ombudsman emphasized.