Ukrainian Yatskin sentenced to 11 years in prison in occupied Crimea

The so-called Supreme Court of Crimea illegally sentenced Ukrainian citizen Ivan Yatskin to 11 years in a maximum security penal colony.

"Today, the so-called Supreme Court of Crimea controlled by the Russian occupation authorities passed an illegal sentence to Ukrainian citizen Ivan Yatskin in a fabricated criminal case over alleged collection and transfer of information, which constitutes Russia’s state secret, to Ukraine," Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights Liudmyla Denisova posted on Facebook.

According to her, Yatskin was sentenced to 11 years in a maximum security penal colony and one year of restriction of liberty of administrative supervision after the prison term ends.

"This illegal sentence passed by the so-called court is a demonstration of systemic political repressions by the occupying power against our citizens, who freely express their pro-Ukrainian views in the territory of the temporarily occupied Crimea," Denisova stressed.

She called on the international community to respond to the illegal trial and increase pressure on Russia to protect the rights of citizens, who remain in the temporarily occupied Crimea, and to release all Ukrainian citizens illegally detained by the aggressor country.

As reported, Yatskin was detained on October 16, 2019, and stayed in the Lefortovo pre-trial detention center in Moscow. According to lawyer Nikolay Polozov, Yatskin was injured by frostbite in the winter because he was kept in the freezing cold without shoes for about 40 minutes.

On April 13, a "court" in the temporarily occupied Crimea began hearing the case of Yatskin, accused of treason and collaboration with the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU). According to the Russian investigation, while in Simferopol from February 14 to March 30, 2016, Yatskin allegedly communicated with his acquaintances from among law enforcement officers on behalf of the SBU, "collecting personal data of employees of the Interior Ministry's operational search bureau in the Republic of Crimea." While in Ukraine from April to July 2016, he allegedly transferred those data, which constitute a state secret "via the Internet, as well as during personal meetings with SBU officers."

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