Creator of Telegram news channel in Melitopol forced into “slavery” by Russian occupiers – RSF
While investigating into disappearances of several Ukrainian journalists in the Russian-occupied Melitopol, "Reporters Without Borders" (RSF) learned of Yevhenii Ilchenko, who was arrested for creating a Telegram channel that reported on the Russian occupation of his city.
Ilchenko has endured torture and forced labour, including digging trenches for his captors, writes the RSF.
Before the Russian invasion of 2022 Ilchenko was a lawyer in Melitopol. On May 3, 2022, without informing his family, Yevhenii launched a Telegram channel called @Mitopol. He stated his intentions clearly with the very first message, which announced: "Analysis, events and facts." llchenko took a great personal risk to keep the public informed despite his lack of previous journalistic experience, demonstrating a real commitment to reporting on the day-to-day life of his city and its inhabitants, the RSF reports.
llchenko’s reports were almost exclusively devoted to local news, as he covered supply problems in supermarkets, the presence of occupiers in the streets of Melitopol, and the corruption of certain local authorities in issuing traffic permits.
@Mitopol's last report was posted on 10 July 2022. Its images, which llchenko filmed the day before with his cell phone, show the long queues to obtain administrative documents that have become commonplace since the invasion. "The reality of occupation in the absence of Ukrainian authorities,"read Ilchenko’s caption, published at 8:02 AM.
Two hours later, four Russian soldiers in uniform came to Ilchenko's home. His apartment was turned upside down, and jewellery and documents were stolen. Ilchenko, who had been out for a walk, was arrested in his garden on his return on accusations of "terrorism."
Messages that Ilchenko managed to send to one of his relatives, which RSF has seen, described how he was first detained for several weeks in Melitopol with some 15 other Ukrainians. According to the messages, acts of torture were commonplace. Prisoners were regularly electrocuted, particularly on their genitals. Sometimes, the prisoners were driven into a forest, naked, at night, for a mock execution before being brought back, terrorised, to their jail. "I didn't crack, but not everyone is as strong," he wrote to his contact. The worst, however, was yet to come.
Starting in September 2022, after the Russians had suffered months of military setbacks, Yevhenii Ilchenko was subjected to forced labour. Photos sent by Ilchenko during his captivity, seen by RSF, show that he was forced to help build trenches for the Russian forces and clean their soldiers' weapons for several months. At the time, Ilchenko was held a few dozen kilometres from Melitopol, which was on the front line, near the Ukrainian village Verbove in the Zaporizhzhya region. Ilchenko also managed to send a photo of a fellow Ukrainian, shovel in hand, who was sentenced to 13 years in prison a few months after the photo was taken.
Arnaud Froger, Head of RSF’s Investigation Desk, says that this is the first case of slavery recorded by the organization in the forty years of defending journalism.
“Captured, tortured and then enslaved… This is the first time, in nearly forty years of defending journalism, that RSF has documented a journalist, blogger or whistleblower subject to total slavery and forced to participate in a war effort against their own country. Because this man chose to keep the public informed, he has not only been held captive for two years but forced into hard labour. We have gone from arbitrariness to barbarism. Yevhenii Ilchenko must immediately be released," says Froger.
Yevhenii Ilchenko returned to prison after several months of digging defensive lines for his captors. According to one of RSF's sources, he may now be held in Taganrog, in conditions that remain harsh. An ex-prisoner in Taganrog told RSF that walks are only allowed once every two months, and that the lights are always on in order to torture the prisoners.
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