PRAGUE -- Vladyslav Yesypenko, a Ukrainian citizen and journalist who contributed to Crimea.Realities, a regional news outlet of RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service, has been released from Russian custody more than four years after being detained on suspicion of collecting information for Ukrainian intelligence, a charge he denied.
Yesypenko was released by authorities on June 22.
“For more than four years, Vlad was arbitrarily punished for a crime he did not commit. He paid too high of a price for reporting the truth about what was taking place inside Russia-occupied Crimea," RFE/RL President and Chief Executive Officer Steve Capus said in a statement.
"For that, he was tortured, physically and psychologically. While we celebrate his joyous reunion with his wife Kateryna, and their young daughter Stefania, we cannot overlook this family’s pain at the hands of Russian authorities."
In a post on Telegram, Andriy Yermak, chief of staff to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, thanked everyone who helped secure Yesypenko's release.
"This is good news. RFE/RL's journalist Vladyslav Yesypenko has been released from prison in Crimea... Welcome home," Yermak wrote. He further added that Russia's charges against Yesypenko were "groundless."
Yesypenko, a dual Russian-Ukrainian citizen, was arrested and jailed on March 10, 2021. In February 2022, a Russian-appointed court in Crimea sentenced him to six years in prison on espionage charges, which he, his employer, and human rights groups have denounced as fabricated.
Several months later, Yesypenko was charged with "possession and transport of explosives," a charge he firmly denies. Prosecutors later admitted that the grenade "discovered" in his vehicle did not bear his fingerprints.
He also rejected accusations of gathering intelligence for Ukraine during his trial.
The highest Moscow-controlled court in Crimea later reduced Yesypenko's sentence to five years in prison.
During his trial, Yesypenko testified that he was tortured with electric shocks to force him into a false confession. In November 2022, a Ukrainian prosecutor launched criminal proceedings against a Russian FSB officer for unlawful detention and torture.
In September 2023, the European Union imposed sanctions on six individuals, including two judges and a prosecutor involved in the case against him as well as two officers from Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), whom the bloc said were responsible for his torture.
Yesypenko's move follows the releases of former RFE/RL journalist Ihar Karnei on June 21 and RFE/RL journalist Andrei Kuznechyk in February from unjust detention in Belarus thanks to the significant efforts of the Trump administration.
