Ukrainian Political Prisoner Stohniy Freed From Russian-Administered Jail
By RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service
A Ukrainian man considered a political prisoner by local rights groups has resurfaced in Kyiv after completing a 3 1/2-year prison sentence in Russian-controlled prisons on charges of making and transporting weapons and explosive devices.
The news of Oleksiy Stohniy’s release was announced on February 19 by human rights ombudswoman Lyudmyla Denisova.
“All these years, our citizen has been kept in intolerable conditions inside places of incarceration by the invading country, which greatly affected his state of health,” she said. “I will urgently take appropriate measures to conduct a highly qualified medical examination and provide the necessary medical care to Oleksiy.”
His wife, Oksana Stohniy, said on Facebook that her husband was released at the end of January but the family didn’t publicize the fact until he safely crossed from Russia-occupied Crimea into mainland Ukraine.
“He is finally home! My beloved husband and best father to our [two] daughters! We waited for the family to be reunited. We are thrilled!” she wrote on Facebook.
Oleksiy Stohniy was arrested on the night of November 14-15, 2016, while trying to cross the administrative border of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula into the mainland portion of the country en route to Kyiv for his daughter’s birthday, according to his wife.
Russia forcibly annexed Crimea in March 2014 following the ouster of Ukraine's pro-Kremlin President Viktor Yanukovych.
He and eight other Ukrainians were initially charged by Russian authorities in Crimea with spying for the Ukrainian Defense Ministry and planning subversive acts.
However, he was sentenced in a closed-door trial on November 17, 2017, for making weapons and explosive devices. He spent part of his prison sentence in a Russian penal colony.
Groups such as the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group, Crimean Human Rights Group, and the Association of Relatives of Kremlin Political Prisoners considered the charges false and designated Stohniy a political prisoner.
Stohniy had served in the Ukrainian military but resigned in 1997 due to medical issues, Oksana Stohniy said at a news conference in Kyiv in May 2017.
At the time of his arrest, Oleksiy Stohniy was working as a sales clerk in the Crimean port city of Sevastopol.
Ukrainian NGOs said last month that Russia still holds 96 political prisoners, most of whom were detained in Crimea, including 69 Crimean Tatars.
The office of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a statement in late December that it was working toward a third prisoner swap with Russia and was preparing a new list of political prisoners, including Crimeans.
Ukraine and Russia carried out two prisoner swaps last year.
Ukraine Marks 'Heavenly Hundred's Day' On Anniversary Of Euromaidan Bloodshed
By RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service
KYIV -- Ukrainians are marking Heavenly Hundred's Day on the sixth anniversary of a deadly crackdown against the Euromaidan protests that toppled Ukraine's pro-Russian former president, Viktor Yanukovych.
The commemorations honor those who were killed in Kyiv during clashes with Yanukovych's security forces on February 20, 2014.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and his wife, Olena, were among Ukrainians who laid flowers at the Monument to the Heavenly Hundred in Kyiv's Independence Square -- Maidan Nezalezhnosti -- on February 20.
The Euromaidan movement began in November 2013 when protesters gathered at the central square in Kyiv to protest Yanukovych's decision not to sign a crucial trade accord with the European Union and, instead, seek closer economic ties with Russia.
Ukrainian prosecutors say 104 people were killed and 2,500 injured as a result of violent crackdowns by authorities against protesters from February 18-20, 2014.
Shunning a deal backed by the West and Russia to end the standoff, Yanukovych abandoned power and fled Kyiv on February 21, 2014.
The former president, who was secretly flown to Russia and remains there, denies that he ordered police to fire on protesters.
Yanukovych claims the violence was the result of a “planned operation” to overthrow his government.
In March 2014, shortly after Yanukovych's downfall, Russian military forces seized control of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula -- a precursor to the Kremlin's forcible annexation of the territory through a hastily organized and widely discredited referendum.
Russia also has supported pro-Russia separatists who are fighting Ukrainian government forces in eastern Ukraine.
More than 13,000 people have been killed in that conflict since April 2014.
In Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities on February 20, religious ceremonies were scheduled to commemorate those killed during the Euromaidan protests.
Later on February 20, Euromaidan protest participants and other activists plan to rally in front of the presidential administration building in Kyiv under the slogan: "Ukraine Is Still On The Front Lines Fighting For Euromaidan's Ideas."
Acting U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Kristina Kvien said in a February 20 statement that the Heavenly Hundred's "sacrifice was not in vain."
"The Heavenly Hundred continue to inspire Ukrainians from Uzhhorod to Mariupol, they inspire others around the world standing up for democracy and rule of law," Kvien said in a video statement issued on Twitter. "The United States stands firmly with the people of Ukraine in the effort to build strong democratic institutions.
"We remain committed to partnering with the people of Ukraine in support of Ukraine's democracy, sovereignty, and territorial integrity and in support of the Euro-Atlantic future, for which the Heavenly Hundred sacrificed their lives,” Kvien said.
Here is today's map of the security situation in eastern Ukraine, according to the National Security and Defense Council (CLICK TO ENLARGE):
