PRESS RELEASE

OSCE Media Freedom Representative welcomes release of Sentsov, Sushchenko and Vyshinsky, thanks both countries for this achievement

VIENNA, 7 September 2019 – The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Harlem Désir, welcomed today’s release of Ukrainian film director and writer Oleg Sentsov from Crimea, of the correspondent of the Ukrainian National News Agency, Ukrinform, Roman Sushchenko, and of journalist Kirill Vyshinsky, the chief of the RIA Novosti Ukraina office in Kyiv, as a result of the exchange of prisoners between Russia and Ukraine.

“I welcome the release of Oleg Sentsov, Roman Sushchenko and Kirill Vyshinsky today in Kyiv and Moscow,” said Désir. “I called for their release and intervened on their behalf numerous times with the Russian and Ukrainian authorities. I am relieved by their release after such a long detention.”

Sentsov was arrested in Simferopol by Russian security services in May 2014 and convicted in Rostov-on-Don in August 2015. He was serving a 20-year prison term on terrorism charges at a high-security penal colony in the Russian Federation.

Sushchenko was arrested in Moscow in September 2016 and sentenced in June 2018 to 12 years in a high-security prison on espionage charges.

The Representative also noted that journalist Kirill Vyshinsky, the chief of the RIA Novosti Ukraina office in Kyiv, was also part of the exchange process. Earlier, the Representative welcomed his release from pre-trial detention (see https://www.osce.org/representative-on-freedom-of-media/428684).

“I thank the authorities of both countries for their effort in achieving the significant release of Oleg Sentsov, Roman Sushchenko and Kirill Vyshinsky. I call for the release of all detained journalists in the OSCE region.”

The Representative recalled the OSCE Ministerial Council Decision on Safety of Journalists, which urges the “immediate and unconditional release of all journalists who have been arbitrarily arrested or detained, taken hostage or who have become victims of enforced disappearance” in participating States. He reiterated his call for the release of Stanislav Aseev, a blogger and contributor to the Ukrainian Service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, who was detained by the so-called “DPR” forces at the beginning of June 2017 in Donetsk and remains in custody since then.

The Representative has previously raised his concern on the cases of Oleg Sentsov and Roman Sushchenko in his public statements, see: https://www.osce.org/fom/119329, https://www.osce.org/representative-on-freedom-of-media/383364, https://www.osce.org/representative-on-freedom-of-media/428684, https://www.osce.org/representative-on-freedom-of-media/383433, hhttps://www.osce.org/representative-on-freedom-of-media/397979, https://www.osce.org/fom/351561 and https://www.osce.org/fom/358456.

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