Russian-backed insurgents have illegally sentenced yet another Ukrainian to time behind bars, human rights activists revealed on Aug. 13.
This time it is university sophomore Serhii Rusinov. The Russian-backed Luhansk “authorities” charged the 22-year-old with terrorism and sentenced him to 6 years in prison in October, but his case was not publicly known until recently, according to Eastern Human Rights Group, a nonprofit that tracks information about those kidnapped or disappeared in the Russian-occupied parts of the eastern Donbas region.
Human rights activists say that Rusinov’s alleged “terrorist activity” consisted of liking and writing pro-Ukrainian posts on social media. Today he is one of more than 200 people imprisoned in Russia, Russian-annexed Crimea and occupied Donbas for holding pro-Ukrainian political views.
The Eastern Human Rights Group found out about the young man after they received information that a prison in Luhansk Oblast was holding a person on politically-motivated charges. Then, the organization spoke with Rusinov’s mother and then with Rusinov himself. At the moment, Rusinov is in Prison 60 in Slovianoserbsk, a town in Luhansk Oblast.
“The charges against Serhii Rusinov and his detention are crimes against freedom, honor, and dignity,” Vera Yastrebova, the head of Eastern Human Rights Group, told the Kyiv Post on Aug. 14. “They cannot forgive our Ukrainians for rejecting the Russian world.”
Getting information about prisoners held by the Russia-backed insurgents occupying parts of the Donbas can be challenging, as these unrecognized regimes often lack the minimal transparency even present in sovereign authoritarian states.
However, Rusinov’s case took so long to come to public attention because the Luhansk insurgents initially promised his mother that they would release him provided that she did not speak with Ukrainian law enforcement, the Eastern Human Rights Group reported.
According to Anna Mokrousova, co-founder of Blue Bird, another human rights organization, Rusinov has now been included on the list of political prisoners Ukraine wants to free from Russian and Russian-backed insurgent prisons.
“We are doing all we can to release him,” Mokrousova said.
