Ukrainian political prisoner Kostenko freed

Ukrainian political prisoner of the Kremlin Oleksandr Kostenko has left penal colony No. 5 in the Russian city of Kirovo-Chepetsk, Hromadske TV has reported, citing a member of the public monitoring commission of the Kirov region, Denis Shadrin, who met the Crimean resident.

"Oleksandr came out at 10:54. He was met by members of the monitoring commission - Artur Abashev and I," Shadrin said.

According to him, Kostenko will travel to Kyiv through Moscow.

As reported, Kostenko was sentenced to three-and-a-half years of imprisonment in occupied Crimea for allegedly inflicting bodily injury on a Berkut riot police officer in Kyiv. Then he was taken from an illegally annexed peninsula to Russian penal colony No. 5 in the city of Kirovo-Chepetsk. Kostenko did not admit his guilt.

The Crimean Human Rights Group reported that Kostenko's father had publicly spoken about torture suffered by his son.

In late June 2018, Kostenko threatened to injure himself due to charges imposed on him in prison.

op