The 23 political prisoners that parliament set free on Feb. 24

The following are the names of those who will be set
free and a brief description of their cases: 

Vitaliy
Zaporozhets was given a 14-year prison sentence for shooting a police major
to death during a dispute in a village in the Brovarsky district of Kyiv
Oblast. Eye witness accounts said the police officer, Mykola Symonenko, was
drunk and that Zaprozhets was innocent. A lawyer by profession, Zaporozhets is
an Oleksiy Hrinyk prize laureate, an award given to those who give concessions
to or whose systemic activity benefits the Ukrainian nation or state. 

Volodymyr
Shpara has been dubbed one of the three “Vasylkiv Terrorists” because
authorities convicted them for plotting to blow up a Lenin monument which had
already been dismantled. He is the local commander of the local chapter of
Patriot of Ukraine in Vasylkiv, Kyiv Oblast, a right-wing group. He is married
and has two children and has been in prison for more than two years while
serving a six-year sentence. He was convicted for terrorism in January after
which former Interior Minister Yuri Lutsenko was beaten by riot police outside
the courtroom. 

Serhiy
Bevz is the second of the three so-called “Vasylkiv Terrorists” who
was convicted in January for plotting to blow up a Lenin statue that didn’t
exist. He is a Vasylkiv city council member, and high ranking member of Social
National Assembly and Patriot of Ukraine, two far-right groups. He is married
and has a two-year-old son. 

Ihor
Mosiychuk, a Vasylkiv city council member and high ranking member of the
Social National Assembly, was convicted in January of terrorism along with Bevz
and Shpara for allegedly plotting to blow up a Lenin statue that didn’t exist.
He is married and has a nine-year-old daughter. 

Andriy
Biletsky is the leader of Patriot of Ukraine, a far-right group. He was
arrested in December 2011 for his alleged involvement in a shootout with
well-known Ukrainophobe journalist Serhiy Kolesnyk. He also heads the Social
National Assembly in Kharkiv, is married and has a son. Although he wasn’t
present during the shootout with Kolesnik, he was arrested as an accomplice. In
November 2011, he was shot at near the entrance of the apartment block he
lives. One bullet struck his jaw, the other hit his arm. He drove himself to
the hospital where he had two operations on his arm and the two bullets
removed. He was never convicted but kept in a pre-trial detention center in
Kharkiv located inside a larger prison complex. 

Ihor
Mykhailenko is a high-ranking member of Patriot of Ukraine in Kharkiv who
was arrested on Dec. 27, 2011 for allegedly shooting at journalist Serhiy
Kolesnyk. During the Aug. 3, 2011 shootout, Kolesnyk allegedly injured
Mykhailenko and fellow Patriot of Ukraine member Vitaliy Kniazhesky. As a result
Kolesnyk was hospitalized for a brain injury and the police charged the two for
attacking the journalist. 

Vitaliy
Kniazhesky was arrested on Dec. 27 for his involvement in a shootout with
journalist Serhiy Kolesnyk, known for his dislike of far-right groups.
Kniazhesky, single, is a member of Patriot of Ukraine and is from Izium,
Kharkiv Oblast. 

Vitaliy
Prymenko of Kyiv is the co-founder of right-wing group Tryzub and was
arrested on Sept. 28, 2011 for allegedly plotting a terrorist act. He spent 19
months in a pre-trial detention center in Artemivsk, Donetsk Oblast before
being sentenced to six years and six months in prison. He has a son and is
married. 

Dmytro and Serhiy Pavlychenko were sentenced to
life and 13 years in prison as the father and son who allegedly murdered a Kyiv
judge in 2011. Police insisted they convicted the right people, while the
Pavlychenkos maintain they were framed and are innocent. Dmytro Pavlychenko,
50, and Serhiy Pavlychenko, 21, exhausted all their appeals in Ukrainian courts
in January and are serving their sentences in Chernihiv and Kharkiv Oblasts,
respectively. 

Dmytro Pavlychenko (left), 50, and his son Serhiy Pavlychenko, 21, acknowledge supporters during an Aug. 1 Kyiv Appellate Court ruling that upheld their conviction of murdering a judge on March 21, 2011.

Anton
Boiko is one of four who was convicted for allegedly setting ablaze a
courthouse in Melitopol, Zaporizhya Oblast, including a district prosecutor’s
office. Arrested on Sept. 19, 2011, he was sentenced to five years in prison. 

Anton
Shamov is one of four who was convicted for allegedly setting ablaze a
courthouse in Melitopol, Zaporizhya Oblast, including a district prosecutor’s
office. He was given a three-year prison sentence. 

Dmytro
Svitanko is one of four who was convicted for allegedly setting ablaze a
courthouse in Melitopol, Zaporizhya Oblast, including a district prosecutor’s
office. He was given a five-year, six-month prison sentence. 

Oleksandr
Radolov is one of four who was convicted for allegedly setting ablaze a
courthouse in Melitopol, Zaporizhya Oblast, including a district prosecutor’s
office. He sentenced to six years in prison. 

Vladyslav
Popovych is one of the five so-called “Nizhyn Robin Hoods” who fought
against drug dealing in Nizhyn, Chernihiv Oblast. They were convicted of
committing serious crimes, including banditry, involving five victims, all of
whom they alleged were local drug dealers. Popovych was given eight years in
prison. 

Rustam
Urazheldiev is one of the five so-called “Nizhyn Robin Hoods” who fought
against drug dealing in Nizhyn, Chernihiv Oblast. He was given nine years in
prison. 

Serhiy
Yarmolenko is one of the five so-called “Nizhyn Robin Hoods” who fought
against drug dealing in Nizhyn, Chernihiv Oblast. He was given a 10-year,
six-month prison sentence. 

Andriy
Bondarenko is one of the five so-called “Nizhyn Robin Hoods” who fought
against drug dealing in Nizhyn, Chernihiv Oblast. He was sentenced to 10 years
and four months. 

Anatoliy
Popovych is the leader of the
so-called “Nizhyn Robin Hoods” who fought against drug dealing in Nizhyn,
Chernihiv Oblast. He was sentenced to 11 years and eight months in prison. 

Ihor
Hannenko is a university student from Sumy Oblast who was given a
one-year, eight-month prison sentence for painting a portrait resembling
ex-President Viktor Yanukovych’s face on a wall with a red dot on his forehead. 

Viktor
Smaliy was arrested on Dec. 9 for allegedly trying to assassinate a
judge in his chambers. He was allegedly tortured while in prison. He is the
lawyer of traffic police watchdog activist Andriy Dzyndza who faced criminal
charges, but was released. 

Oleh
Odnorozhenko is another Patriot of Ukraine member who was arrested for
spurious charges. He is in prison in Kharkiv Oblast. He is considered the chief
ideologue of the group. 

Andriy Nalyvaiko is
a university student suspected of attacking three police officers with a knife
in Kherson on Jan. 27, one of whom died the next day. He insists that that
night he and a friend were also attacked and reported the incident to the
police, but instead he was arrested for the attacking the three officers. 

Kyiv Post editor Mark
Rachkevych can be reached at [email protected].