Former Kremlin hostage, Oleh Sentsov has posted a letter he just received from 66-year-old Halyna Dovhopola, whom a closed ‘court’ in Russian-occupied Crimea recently sentenced to 12 years’ imprisonment for supposed ‘treason.’ The letter essentially confirms suspicions that the pensioner was targeted because of her pro-Ukrainian views and that she was held in total isolation, with only a state-appointed lawyer and without being allowed even the briefest visits from the Ukrainian consul. While the years of Russian occupation have shown that in political cases, no amount of evidence can charge a largely predetermined sentence, a lawyer whom the person can trust and contact with people in Ukraine makes it harder for the FSB to conceal the lack of any substance to the charges. This is precisely why they hide prisoners like Dovhopola and use all kinds of means to ensure that they only have access to state-appointed ‘lawyers’ who generally put pressure on them to ‘confess’ and certainly do not represent their interests.
Russia's War Against Ukraine
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Halya Coynash: Ukrainian pensioner sentenced to 12 years for ‘treason’
Russian police officers stand guard in front of the headquarters of the FSB security services in central Moscow on July 3, 2020.
