“Stanislav Aseev is a journalist and writer who spent 31 months in the prison of militants of the “DNR” group”, — write: www.radiosvoboda.org
For 2024, Ukrainians will be awarded two prizes:
- Stanislav Aseev – former prisoner of the Kremlin, founder of the Justice Initiative Fund, author of Radio Liberty and laureate of the Shevchenko Prize;
- Olga Skrypnyk – head of the Crimean human rights group.
It is known that the foundation was founded by Poul Lauritzen, a Danish businessman and active participant in the Resistance movement in Denmark during World War II. Each year, the foundation awards one prize for outstanding achievements in the field of human rights protection and dissemination of information about human rights violations in different parts of the world.
“For Olga and I, it was a complete surprise when we received a message about the prize award and an invitation to come to the ceremony in Copenhagen. Another surprise was the deep knowledge of the organizers of the event with the details of our work and even my literary achievements. In particular, at the ceremony, excerpts from the English edition of “The Bright Path” about isolation were read, which gave an impetus to a deeper discussion about the torture system used by Russia,” said Aseev in a commentary on Radio Liberty.
It was also repeatedly mentioned during the events in Copenhagen Vladyslav Yesypenko, a freelancer of Radio Svoboda illegally convicted by Russia, as an example of “brutal violation of human rights by Russia”.
Stanislav Aseev – a journalist and writer who spent 31 months in prison by militants of the “DNR” group, the founder Justice Initiative Fund– voluntarily joined the ranks of the Armed Forces. Serves near the front line in Donbas. Stanislav described his personal experience of undergoing military training in the “textbooks” of two military units of the TRO in eastern Ukraine.
Vladyslav Yesypenko – Ukrainian journalist, freelancer of Krym.Realii. Before his arrest, he covered social and environmental issues, conducted surveys of Crimeans. On March 10, 2021, he was detained in Simferopol. The Russian authorities accused the journalist of collecting information “for the benefit of the special services of Ukraine”, as well as storing an “improvised explosive device” in his car.
As a result, Yesipenko was sentenced to 5 years of imprisonment in a general regime colony and a fine of 110,000 rubles. The Russian prosecution demanded 11 years of imprisonment for Yesipenko. Yesipenko himself claims that the Russian security forces tortured him, in particular with electricity, in order to obtain evidence.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine called Yesypenko’s sentence “politically motivated.” The US State Department also condemned the verdict, calling it “yet another example of abuses by the Russian occupation authorities in Crimea.”
In 2022, Vladyslav Yesypenko became a laureate of the American PEN Award, the Barbey Freedom to Write Award and the National Ihor Lubchenko National Prize for the Protection of Freedom of Speech.