Family members of Ukrainian political prisoners and a delegation of Polish journalists visiting Ukraine with the support of the Ukrainian Institute visited the Mission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The meeting was attended by family members of Ukrainian political prisoners who are illegally detained in Russia. Among them were Petro Vyhivskyi, the father of Valentyn Vyhivskyi, who has been unlawfully held in Russian captivity for over 10 years on charges of “espionage”; Viktoriia Huhuryk, wife of Crimean Tatar political prisoner Rustem Huhuryk, illegally detained in March 2022 at the administrative border with Crimea and sentenced to 8.5 years in a penal colony in Buryatia; Oleksandra Barkova, sister of Bohdan Ziza, illegally sentenced to 15 years in a general regime penal colony for a pro-Ukrainian action in occupied Crimea. Mariia Tomak, Head of the Crimea Platform, moderated the meeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The delegation from Poland included leading journalists and cultural figures. Among them were Jacek Swender, editor of Wydawnictwo Agora; Olga Lozynska, reporter of the political department of the Polish Press Agency (PAP); Agnieszka Lichnerowicz, a reporter at Tok FM radio and co-host of the podcast Rozumie\u0107 Ukrain\u0119; Micha\u0142 Antoni Wisniewski, an employee of the international department of PAP; Antonina Palarczyk, journalist of the weekly Tygodnik Powszechny; Jan Mikruta, journalist and commentator at Polsat TV; Paulina Reiter, editor, and author of Wysokie Obcasy; Antoni Michnik, cultural historian and PhD at the Institute of Arts of the Polish Academy of Sciences, as well as Anna Sanchuk, journalist and art critic who works with Vogue Polska and Newsweek Polska.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Head of the Crimea Platform briefed the journalists on the Mission’s activities and discussed the current situation in temporarily occupied Crimea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Russia is currently detaining 218 political prisoners from temporarily occupied Crimea. These are people who were arrested and imprisoned in Crimea or arrested in Crimea and illegally transported to the territory of Russia. Also, after the start of the full-scale invasion, the problem of taking civilian hostages by the aggressor state arose,” Mariia Tomak stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Petro Vyhivskyi, Valentyn Vyhivskyi’s father, reported the illegal detention of his son, his forced transportation to the territory of the Russian Federation, the use of torture, and attempts by the FSB to force him to cooperate. He also noted that Valentyn has been held in a high-security colony for more than ten years, and during this time, his health has deteriorated drastically.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Viktoriia Huhuryk, wife of Crimean Tatar political prisoner Rustem Huhuryk, said that her husband was illegally accused of participating in the Noman \u00c7elebicihan Crimean Tatar Volunteer Batallion based on falsified evidence. He is currently being held in inhumane conditions in a penal colony in Buryatia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Oleksandra Barkova, sister of Bohdan Ziza, emphasized that her brother was illegally convicted by the occupiers on charges of “terrorism” because of his creative protest and sentenced to 15 years in prison.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During the conversation, the representatives of the Polish delegation were interested in ways of communication between families and civilian political prisoners, the possibility of exchange and return to Ukraine, and mechanisms of assistance and support for political prisoners illegally convicted and transferred to the territory of Russia. Family members of political prisoners emphasized the importance of maximum coverage of these crimes in the world media and increasing the international community’s pressure on Russia to release their relatives and all Ukrainian citizens illegally detained by the aggressor country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":62891,"template":"","publication-type":[43],"class_list":["post-62900","press-center","type-press-center","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","publication-type-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n