Ukrainian Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty journalist Vladyslav Yesypenko was released Sunday after more than four years in Russian custody in Crimea, according to RFE/RL.
Yesypenko was arrested and jailed on March 10, 2021, in Crimea, which was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014, on suspicion of gathering intelligence for Ukraine, a charge he denied.
In February 2022, a Russian-installed court in Crimea sentenced the dual Russian-Ukrainian citizen to six years on espionage charges that he, his employer and rights groups said were fabricated. Months later, he was also charged with possessing explosives - a claim he denies. Prosecutors later acknowledged the grenade found in his car did not bear his fingerprints.
The top Moscow-controlled court in Crimea later reduced Yesypenko's sentence to five years. During his trial, he testified that he was tortured with electric shocks to extract a false confession.
"For more than four years, Vlad was arbitrarily punished for a crime he did not commit. He paid too high of a price for reporting the truth about what was taking place inside Russia-occupied Crimea," RFE/RL chief executive Stephen Capus said, adding that Yesypenko had been "tortured, physically and psychologically."
Capus thanked the US and Ukrainian governments for "working with us to ensure that Vlad's unjust detention was not prolonged."
In a post on Telegram, Ukrainian presidential aide Andriy Yermak thanked everyone who helped secure Yesypenko's release.
He was freed shortly after longtime RFE/RL correspondent Ihar Karnei was released from prison in Belarus, following a rare visit by a senior US official.
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