Ukrainian NGO Worker Sentenced to Two Years in “DNR” Prisons
Volodimir Fomichev, a 23-year-old employee of the Kyiv-based organization Centre UA, was sentenced to 2 years imprisonment by the court of the illegal armed group in Donetsk, reports Hromadske TV.
Militants took him prisoner in the town of Makiivka on January 4th, 2016. He then sat in the prisons of the so-called “Ministry of State Security” (“MGB”) for more than 7 months. He is accused of bringing two grenades into the town, as well as cooperating with the Svoboda political party. However, his colleagues argue that he has never been associated with the party.
“They only ended up keeping one charge, possessing grenades. This, as a rule, is given a suspended sentence. After all, here (in the occupied territories of Donetsk region – Ed.) almost everyone has weapons. But I do not believe that he had any grenades at all. How could he carry them through two checkpoints, where everyone is searched? He was afraid to take even his laptop to Makiivka,” says Igor Fomichev, Volodimir’s father.
Relatives of the prisoner asked not to make a fuss, so the media has not been publicly speaking about what happened with Volodimir Fomichev.
According to his parents, when they were given the items that “MGB” workers confiscated during the arrest, the back of his sweater was completely covered with blood.
“My son was physically forced to confess. He was reported on to the ‘MGB’ by an old friend, a former activist in the Donetsk branch of the ‘Regional Initiatives Fund’, Roman Huzyahmetov, who first supported Euromaidan with my son, and then switched sides to the ‘DNR.’”
“Vova met Roman in Donetsk, and then he wrote to the ‘MGB’ that he was a terrorist and had come to ‘DNR’ to commit a terrorist attack,” said the father.
On August 16th, 2016, the self-proclaimed “court” of the illegal armed group sentenced Volodimir Fomichev to 2 years imprisonment.
“In his final statement to the court on August 15th, Vova said that he recognized his guilt and that he should not have brought grenades to Donetsk,” said Igor, “The lawyer must have told him that if he confessed to everything, then they would let him go. But, if he changed the testimony, they would again go into his connection with Svoboda and give him about seven years.”
Fomichev’s lawyer, Svetlana Savchuk, resents the increase in the sentence by the so-called judge of the illegal armed formation.
“I am shocked that the prosecutor in this fictional indictment asked for him to receive a year and half in prison, but the judge gave six months more. It is nonsense. This just does not happen!” says Savchuk.
Parents plan to file an appeal against the actions of the “court,” but the chances of cancelling the judge’s decision are small. As a rule, any Ukrainian soldiers who are arrested by the authorities of the occupied territories are added to the lists for prisoner exchange, but Fomichev is not a soldier. It is unknown whether or not he has been put onto the exchange list.
