“LNR” Militants Have been holding a Journalist Captive for 5 Months

Militants have changed the conditions of release for Luhansk journalist Maria Varfolomeyeva, who has been accused of artillery fire correction.

According to Telekritika, 29 year-old activist and journalist Maria Varfolomeyeva has been held in captivity in Luhansk for five months. This was reported by another activist and journalist from Luhansk, Konstantin Reutsky, along with Olexiy Matsuka, the host of Donbass Realii on Radio Liberty.

On January 9, Varfolomeyeva was kidnapped by armed men who called themselves “LNR militia.” The reason for the detention was the photographing of Luhansk, which, according to the journalist, she carried out for one of the Kharkiv editions. Militants later accused her of “artillery fire correction,” which carries a 15 year prison sentence. According to Matsuka, her “sentence” was announced by the authority of the so-called “LNR’s KGB.” Konstantin Reutsky says that, at the moment, there is only the so-called “investigation,” while the “sentence” is going to be announced when terrorist-controlled judiciary begins working in the occupied territories.

Before the occupation, Varfolomeyeva worked for the local edition of the “Free Reporter” and was a freelancer for several national media outlets. She took an active part in Luhansk Euromaidan. She stayed behind in occupied Luhansk to take care of her 73-year-old grandmother, who could not move on her own (sadly, the grandmother died a few days after she learned about the arrest of her granddaughter).

Reutsky, referencing information from people negotiating Varfolomeyeva’s release, said that she was first held in the barracks of a “LNR” battalion, followed by the basement of “Interior Ministry,” and now, allegedly, in Luhansk jail.

In exchange for Varfolomeyeva, the militants demanded the release of a criminal convicted of crimes unrelated to the events in the east of Ukraine, which were committed several years ago. When the Ukrainian government agreed to this, the militants changed their demands. The volunteer group “Patriot” and the SBU (Security Service of Ukraine) claim that they are working on the release of the journalist, but there are yet to be any results. 

Earlier, on May 19, the Russian propaganda channel LifeNews circulated a story about Maria Varfolomeyeva. During an interrogation by LifeNews journalists, after which she cries, she asks the Ukrainian government to aid in her release and rejects all of the militant’s accusations.