Ukrainians Nadiya Savchenko and Oleg Sentsov are the most high-profile hostages of the Kremlin regime to be caught up in Russia’s war against Ukraine.
The show trials of military pilot Savchenko and filmmaker Sentsov have received media coverage worldwide, and both have had top lawyers defending them, although that didn’t stop Senstov being sentenced to 20 years in prison on sham terrorism charges. Savchenko, the subject of the long-running #FreeSavchenko Twitter campaign, could face a life sentence if convicted under the murder case trumped up against her by Russian prosecutors.
While in custody, Sentsov and Savchenko have even published books: “Short Stories” by Sentsov and “A Strong Name – Nadiya” by Savchenko.
But at least 10 other Ukrainian hostages are being held by the Kremlin, activists say, and they don’t get nearly as much attention.
And those 10 are only the ones whose names are known to activists, coordinator of the EuroMaidan SOS initiative and co-founder of the Let My People Go campaign, Oleksandra Matviychuk says.
“We don’t know exactly how many people were arrested in Russia as civilians or captured as military servicemen in the Donbas,” she says.
The 10 known hostages were arrested in Crimea, eastern Ukraine, on the Russian border, or in Russia while conducting business trips. Over 18 months the Russian security services have released only one Ukrainian, Yuriy Yatsenko, who spent a year in jail suffering torture and threats.
Ukrainian human rights activists, when another case of hostage taking becomes known, keep abreast of the investigation and search for lawyers in Russia, and for money to pay them. They also contact relatives and collect evidence of ill-treatment of Ukrainian hostages.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry also tries to free the hostages. “We know of their existence, their stories, and give protection to them,” says ministry spokesman Dmytro Kuleba.
Kuleba said that this protection involves setting up contacts between prisoners and Ukrainian consuls in Russia, and raising awareness of these cases at the international political and public level. One ministry initiative was to have Sentsov’s movie “Gamer” shown in 30 countries. Another was to help pay the lawyer fees of imprisoned Ukrainians.
Crimean cases
Sentsov was detained by Kremlin security agents in May 2014, along with Oleksandr Kolchenko, Oleksiy Chirniy, and Henadiy Afanasiev. All were charged with being members of the Ukrainian ultranationalist organization Right Sector and plotting terror attacks in Crimea.
Kolchenko, a pro-Ukrainian and antifascist activist in Crimea, was tried with Sentsov and sentenced to 10 years. Chirniy and Afanasiev pleaded guilty and were each convicted to seven years in jail.
Afanasiev was the first of the Crimean four to be tried – in December 2014, seven months after being kidnapped in Simferopol on May 9, 2014. After 10 days of brutal mistreatment and torture following his capture, he was transferred to Moscow. He pleaded guilty and gave evidence against Sentsov and the other activists.
His attorney Alexander Popkov told the Kyiv Post that Afanasiev remembers the faces of all of his torturers. Besides being beaten, Afanasiev was exposed to constant psychological pressure. “He was threatened with reprisals against his mother,” Popkov said. “He was told ‘We will bring your mother to the next room, and you will hear us doing the same to her.’”
But at Sentsov’s trial, Afanasiev suddenly withdrew his testimony, saying he had confessed under duress. “I decided to do it, if there was a chance it to save innocent people,” Afanasiev told his attorney Popkov. “I can’t live with not telling the truth.”
The second hostage, Chirniy, got the same sentence in April after he plea bargained with investigators. His lawyer, Ilya Novikov, who also defends Savchenko, said Chirniy was tortured just after his arrest.
According to Novikov, Chirniy pleaded guilty to avoid the 12-year sentence demanded by prosecutors. He was accused of setting fire to the office door of the Party of Regions offices (renamed as the United Russia Party after Russia annexed Crimea), with an intent to intimidate citizens, which the court deemed a terrorist act, Novikov said.
“He did not believe that Ukraine or human rights activist could help him, and decided not to break the deal, so as to ‘not make it worse,’” Novikov wrote on his Facebook page after the verdict.
Matviychuk believes that Ukrainians should support even those who confessed to crimes and testified against others. “You say anything they want under torture,” she said.
Caucasian cases
Mykola Karpiuk was kidnapped on the Russian border in March 2014, his relatives say. The Ukrainian consul, and seven lawyers had been attempting to visit Karpiuk for 18 months of detention, but only the last lawyer succeeded, in mid-September. Karpiuk is facing a possible life sentence on charges of heading an armed gang that participated in conflicts in Chechnya from 1994 to 2000, and killing Russian servicemen.
Karpiuk’s case is complicated by the fact that he was a member of Right Sector and the UNA-UNSO (Ukrainian National Assembly – Ukrainian People’s Self-Defence) political party when he was captured in May 2014. At least two of his associates from Right Sector, Oleksandr Muzychko, aka Sasha Bilyi, and Ihor Mazur, aka Topolia, indeed fought in Chechnya.
Another Ukrainian, Stanislav Klykh, who was captured in August 2014, faces the same prison term as Karpiuk. According to Russian propaganda TV channel LifeNews, Russia’s absurd claim that Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk fought in Chechnya is based on evidence allegedly obtained from Klykh and Karpiuk against him.
Karpiuk was cruelly tortured to get that testimony, according to his attorney Marina Dubrovina. He said nothing, but was forced to sign documents written by investigators, Dubrovina said. “He was tortured – if he said something they didn’t want – they electrocuted him. He could hardly hold a pen because he had been hanged by his wrists.”
Dubrovina says the cases of Karpiuk and Klykh differ because Klykh wasn’t an active participant in radical organizations. Klykh “is an intellectual with two university degrees,” and has never been to Chechnya, she says.
“The only one positive thing in their cases that there will be a jury trial, and perhaps that gives some hope for objectivity,” Matviychuk hopes.
So-called spies
73-year-old Yuriy Soloshenko was on a business trip to Russia when he was arrested and charged with buying “secret state equipment.” Soloshenko used to work as a director of the Znamia defense company in Poltava, and had made many business trips to Russia.
His son Oleksandr says the trial will be closed, and there is little chance of an acquittal. Soloshenko faces 20 years in prison for espionage, which at his age is effectively a death sentence.
Oleksandr said he had to find a lawyer himself, as the Foreign Ministry provided no help, only promises. “He (Soloshenko) was told that the consul doesn’t want to see him, while the consul was actually not allowed to see him,” Matviychuk said.
The relatives of another alleged spy, Valentyn Vuhivskiy, have not released information about him. EuroMaidan SOS activist Maria Tomak says Vuhivskiy was captured in Crimea in September 2014. After being tortured at the former SBU security service department in Simferopol, Vuhivskiy was transferred to Moscow. Facing 20 years in jail, Vuhivskiy also plea bargained.
Viktor Shur’s case is distinct from others because technically he has Russian citizenship, but lived in Chernihiv. He got a Russian passport when he worked for an oil company in Russia, but on retiring, Shur returned to his hometown.
While in Russia, Shur took a picture of cows grazing at an abandoned military airport in Bryansk. He was charged with high treason and faces up to 20 years behind bars.
Complete fabrication
Serhiy Lytvynov from Luhansk Oblast was captured in a Russian hospital near the border in August 2014. It is still unclear under why he crossed the border. According to Russian propaganda channel Russia 1, Lytvynov is charged with the mass murder of women and children in the Donbas.
“All of these cases are fabricated, but his case simply falls apart,” Matviychuk says. Lytvynov was accused of committing the murders while he was in the Dnipro-1 volunteer battalion, but he was never actually a member. According to investigators, Lytvynov participated in mass rapes, but the named victims and even the buildings where the alleged rapes took place do not exist.
He is now awaiting trial in Rostov-on-Don, and faces 20 years in prison. Matviychuk says Lytvynov’s trial is a sham. “We look at these cases, and discover violations that show they’re politically motivated and fabricated,” she says.
Matviychuk says the Ukrainian hostages differ in age, experience, and even their politics – while some actively support independence, others are indifferent. “But they are united by the fact that the Russian propaganda machine is trying to portray Ukrainians as the enemy, coming to Russia to commit arson and acts of terrorism,” she says.
Hostages in Crimea
Khaiser Dzhemilev, the son of Crimean Tatar leader Mustafa Dzhemilev, was sentenced for murder in Crimea, but illegally transferred to Russia and given a three-and-a-half year sentence there for the same crime. “This is a case of direct pressure on Mustafa Dzhemilev,” Matviychuk says.
Khaiser Dzhemilev’s lawyer Nikolay Polozov said Dzhemilev was taken from Armavir in Krasnodar Krai in Russia to Astrahan Oblast on Sept. 26. “Khaiser Dzhemilev’s location is unknown at the moment,” Polozov told the Ukrinform information agency. “Obviously, his illegal transportation is linked to the political activities of his father – (namely) the blockade of Crimea.”
Apart from Dzhemilev, the Russian occupation authorities in Crimea have imprisoned eight people, mostly Crimean Tatars, for opposing Crimea’s annexation, taking part in the EuroMaidan Revolution, and alleged terrorism.
Muslim Crimean Tatars Ruslan Zeitullaev, Nuri Primov, Rustem Vaitov, Ahtem Chyihos, Ali Asanov, and Mustafa Dehermendzhy face 10 years in prison for rioting.
Also in Crimea, EuroMaidan activists Oleksandr Kostenko and Yuriy Ilchenko are accused of inciting conflict.
Kyiv Post staff writer Yuliana Romanyshyn can be reached at [email protected]
