Ukraine saves Transnistrian journalist from prison

Journalist Sergey Ilchenko, harassed by the Transnistrian security forces, was released after four months in prison. He does not plan to stop criticizing the government of Transnistria and would like to stay and live in Ukraine.

Sergey Ilchenko said this to the Human Rights Information Centre.

Ilchenko says that Ukrainian journalists, human rights activists and the Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry played a decisive role in his release. The role of Moldova was far less significant. To get liberty, the journalist had to sign the testimony, in fact to incriminate himself.

“When I was released, I spoke with the Moldovan host party. I saw that Moldova did not want to quarrel with Transnistria. Any help in Moldova is informal, because there I am considered to be neither a political prisoner, nor a refugee. I am no one there,” the journalist says.

His case is not isolated, so the journalist thinks about consistent assistance to the colleagues, who find themselves in similar situation: “It’s not about my ambitions. There are dozens such cases. By the way, now that I’m here in Odesa, I’ve talked to people, and we come up with the idea of ​​setting up the association of Transnistrian political prisoners.”

Sergey Ilchenko is outraged by the situation in Transnistria, and does not conceal his feelings, “Moldova looks like a European state, but in fact it’s absolutely pro-Russian rear of Transnistria, ensuring its partial legalization. Transnistria is an abnormal formation. If we speak about current situation here in lay terms, the narrow layer of bureaucracy acts as a very tough occupation administration there. Any nonconformity is suppressed in Transnistria. The people are put behind the bars for taking part in rallies, even officially permitted ones.”

The participants in the protests, though officially allowed by the authorities, are persecuted by the local security service. The security service officers come to their homes, often at night, threaten them, arrest many people. Although, 90% of the participants in such rallies are people in their seventies. The journalist also says he had a 26-year-old cellmate, a young man from among the organizers of the rally in Tiraspol. The prospects of this guy are much worse, says Ilchenko, because he is less famous and no one actually defends his rights.

“The corruption, like pus, is flowing from this, pardon me, chip of the so-called Russian world into the neighboring regions, the Russian propaganda is completely unbridled there… Moldova is completely infected. This enclave should not be there, the normal life should be restored in the region,” Ilchenko says.

Such views became the cause of persecution against him.

“I’m not going to change, I has not been intimidated. I intend to continue the struggle. However, I realize that in the foreseeable future, in the next five or seven years, or even ten years, I cannot come to Transnistria as I would be handcuffed. If I stay in Moldova, I will be required to keep silence and not to overblow scandals. I am not comfortable with that, of course…” Sergey Ilchenko notes.

Ilchenko left along with his son, who is also a journalist. He campaigned for his father’s release and now plans to settle in Ukraine, “the country, where the human rights are not an empty phrase.” He says he is looking for work and is open to participation in various projects.

As a reminder, the Transnistrian security services harassed local journalist Sergey Ilchenko for his criticism of the current regime in the region and support for Ukraine. The official charges brought against him were alleged distribution of online publications calling for the overthrow of the “legitimate government” in Transnistria and the armed confrontation with Russia. He was detained by the local Ministry of State Security in Transnistria on March 18.

Sergei Ilchenko is a de jure citizen of Moldova and the Russian Federation [all Transnistrian residents have several passports since the region is unrecognized territory]. At the same time, he has Ukrainian roots, so he has a certificate of a foreign Ukrainian.

Ilchenko was administrator of the Facebook group Transnistria Without Corruption, where he criticized the Transnistrian authorities and wrote a lot of analytical materials on the subject.