Moscow is holding over 60 Ukrainian political prisoners in occupied Crimea and Russia, with many. Like Oleg Sentsov and Ruslan Zeytullaev held thousands of kilometres from their children. Every letter sent to them is “a breath of freedom”, civic activists stress. It is also an important message to the Kremlin that the men are not forgotten, with this having very direct impact on their treatment. As human rights activist Oleksandra Romantsova puts it, “if a political prisoner gets two bags of letters, they won’t be able to destroy him”.
OP-ED
Halya Coynash: Our letters help keep Russia’s Ukrainian political prisoners out of danger
Serhiy Kodman and his daughter Nina go through the letters his son, Oleksiy, has sent them from the prison in Donetsk Oblast. (Rostyslav Kovalchuk)
