“I am my own freedom”

Environmental NGO activist Oleksandr Kolchenko, whom Russian security services detained on May 16 in the center of Simferopol together with Oleh Sentsov, turned 25 years on November 26. He spent that day in Lefortovo remand prison in Moscow, where he is held on trumped-up charges as a “member of a Right Sector sabotage and terrorist group.” Thus, Kyiv human rights and civic activists and friends of Kolchenko held a street birthday party for the Crimean political prisoner at the walls of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of Ukraine’s building. Participants of the event brought cakes to it and staged a small impromptu concert, followed by a greeting card signing session. The activists held posters reading “I am my own freedom,” “No one needs permission to be free,” “President Petro Poroshenko, what presents have you brought to Kolchenko’s birthday?” and called on the MFA and the Presidential Administration to keep the public informed on how the investigation into the political prisoner’s alleged crimes was progressing.

“Kolchenko has fallen below the information radar,” Oleksandra Romantsova, coordinator of the Center for Civil Liberties’ mobile teams, said. “Russia has refused to recognize him as a citizen of Ukraine, and so they deny him consular assistance, which this political prisoner is entitled to under international rules. It should be said, though, that when I first announced our event, the MFA got to us promptly, and we held a fairly constructive meeting. We found out that they had sent a lot of notes, but there had been no answer, meaning that Russia rejected diplomatic dialog on this issue. We also agreed that Ukrainian embassies would constantly inform their foreign counterparts about this case. Publicity and internationalization are all what we can expect now.”

“In our international work, we offer a comprehensive list of political prisoners, including Nadia Savchenko as well as Sentsov and Kolchenko,” Ambassador at Large of the MFA of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba noted. “Unfortunately, Russia has ignored all representations, so we have opted for an aggressive public campaign. During international encounters of Vladimir Putin with world leaders, including those held in Australia lately, they raised the issue of releasing Ukrainian political prisoners in Russia, and it is partly due to our efforts. We are also preparing materials to sue Russia in the European Court of Human Rights and cooperate with the Council of Europe on this issue.”

Kolchenko’s pre-trial detention period has been extended for the third time, and the case will go to trial soon. According to the event’s organizers, Kolchenko is now engaging in self-education, reads a lot and is happy to get postcards from Ukraine.