Yesypenko's wife: Due to the war it has been harder to draw attention to the repression in Crimea

Kateryna Yesypenko. Photo by Marek Khaiduk / Radio Liberty

With the full-scale war going on, human rights activists have been struggling to draw the West's attention to the repression in occupied Crimea, says Kateryna Yesypenko, the wife of Vladyslav Yesypenko, a freelancer journalist for Krym.Realii convicted in Russia, in her interview with Krym.Realii.

According to her, the focus of American officials' has slightly shifted to supplying the Ukrainian army with military aid.

"See, on the onset of the full-scale armed invasion our President, on his trip to the USA, gave President Biden a list of all the prisoners who were in Russia at that time; that list included 450 people. Back then it was much easier for us to talk about the specific people and speak their names. Now, when the number of civilian prisoners is in the tens of thousands, we can say that it is very difficult to maintain interest in some particular case," she said.

At the same time, Kateryna stresses that support in the US government is not declining. During her visit to Washington, she managed to talk to multiple officials and human rights organizations.

"In Washington, we met with many NGOs such as Freedom House, Freedom Now and others, and we talked about imprisoned journalists. About Vladyslav Yesypenko, Alsu Kurmasheva. They are quite effective, because during these meetings we tell them the latest news in the cases of imprisoned journalists. This system works cohesively, and these were very important meetings," Yesypenko said.

Vladyslav Yesypenko's case

On March 10, 2021, Russia's FSB detained "Radio Liberty" freelancer journalist Vladyslav Yesypenko in the occupied Crimea. Yesypenko took part in a demonstration dedicated to Taras Shevchenko's birth anniversary, which took place in Simferopol on March 9. Vladyslav Yesypenko was charged with gathering information "in the interests of Ukraine's special services," including the Foreign Intelligence Service. According to the FSB, Yesypenko "had been performing photo and video recording of the area, welfare facilities, and places of mass gatherings of people in the Crimea."

Vladyslav Yesypenko has said that FSB investigators had tortured him in order to coerce him into confessing.

On February 16, the Russian-controlled Simferopol District Court sentenced Krym.Realii freelancer Vladyslav Yesypenko to six years in penal colony for alleged illegal storage and transportation of an explosive device.

Speaking in court on February 15, Yesypenko said the case was politically motivated.