Kremlin political prisoner Oleksiy Chyrniy, who was convicted on trumped-up charges of preparing terrorist attacks in Russia-occupied Crimea, has served his prison sentence and returned to Ukraine.
“Ukrainian political prisoner Oleksiy Chyrniy is free! Today he was released from a strict regime penal colony №15 in Bataysk, Rostov Oblast,” Ukraine’s ombudswoman Liudmyla Denisova wrote on Facebook.
Chyrniy spent seven years in Russian prisons, mainly in Moscow, Magadan and Rostov-on-Don.
On May 7, he was freed and transferred to the Russian-Ukrainian border for forced deportation from Russia. He was not allowed to communicate with his mother and father, who came from Crimea to meet him, Denisova says.
Chyrniy was arrested in 2014, along with Ukrainian activist Oleksandr Kolchenko, filmmaker Oleg Sentsov and photographer Hennadiy Afanasiev.
Afanasiev was pardoned in 2016, while Sentsov and Kolchenko were freed as part of a prisoner swap in 2019.
Chyrniy was accused of multiple counts of terrorism and an attempt to illegally acquire weapons.
According to the investigation, Chyrniy and others were members of a criminal group led by Sentsov, which set fire to the offices of the political parties “Russian Unity” and “Party of Regions” in the Crimean city of Simferopol.
Police also claimed that the group was preparing to blow up the monument to Soviet ruler Vladimir Lenin and the “Eternal Flame” memorial in Crimea. Chyrniy allegedly asked his friend Alexander Pirogov, a chemist, to assemble an explosive device for him.
Pirogov reported this to the Russian authorities and subsequently secretly recorded all conversations with Chyrniy. The records formed the basis of the charges.
His lawyer said that Chyrniy was tortured, which is why he eventually confessed and agreed to cooperate with the investigation.
Denisova says his sentencing was illegal.
Chyrniy has now crossed the Ukrainian-Russian border and arrived at the Ukrainian checkpoint “Milove” in Luhansk region, Denisova said.
