Translated material
Exchange without changing
Ukrainian director Oleg Sentsov, convicted in Russia to 20 years of strict regime in the fabricated case of terrorism, is ready to sign a pardon. This was in an interview with the Ukrainian service "Radio Liberty" by his lawyer Dmitry Dinze.
According to the lawyer, the petition for pardon in the name of President Vladimir Putin is the only option for the exchange of Ukrainian political prisoners. “You either write and go or sit on,” Dinze said.
Sentsov is waiting for an exchange, but believes that he will not happen soon, the lawyer noted. “He is waiting for this, but he himself says that it will not be very soon,” said Dinze. “And if you change it, then, obviously, several people at once. As far as I know, the President of Russia reported that Sentsov is a superman, a criminal. He was discussed at all levels of law enforcement agencies so that there was no quick decision about his liberation. He did not show concessions, became a bone in the thorough FSB apparatus ".
According to Russian laws, the head of state can really sign a decree on pardon only after receiving the appropriate application. However, it does not have to come from the convict himself. So, the deputy chairman of the Majlis of the Crimean Tatar people Akhtem Chiygoz and Ilmi Umarov, pardoned in October last year , did not apply to Putin. The head of the collaborationist mufti of the Crimea and Sevastopol Emirali Ablaev, who was not recognized by Jamais, not recognized by Jamaat, filed papers in relation to both convicts.
On February 16, a representative of the authorized Verkhovna Rada for Human Rights Mikhail Chaplyga said that Sentsov and another Ukrainian citizen Roman Suschenko, accused of Russia of espionage, can exchange Alexander Baranov and Maxim Odintsov to convicted people in Ukraine for stateisms and desertion. According to Chaplygi, now preparations for such an exchange are underway. In order for it to take place, concluded on both sides must receive sentences, respectively in Russia and Ukraine, and then pardoned, the representative of the Ukrainian Ombudsman explained.
"There are such citizens Odintsov and rams who have already received sentences. The question is: whether they will dispute them. Another information that the Suschenko case has already been transferred to the court. In fact, I see quite active preparations for the exchange of Baranov and Odintsov for Syshchenko and Sentsov," Chaplyga said.
In the evening on the same day, the Vice Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada Irina Gerashchenko said that the words of Chaplygi are not true. “I have to refute other people's statements in order to stop the process of irresponsible comments on the air. To stop what can now damage negotiations. And the process of liberation of the guys,” Gerashchenko wrote. According to the deputy, now is not the time to name either the surname or the date of exchange of prisoners. “Any inaccurate information can disrupt fragile hope, painfully wounds relatives and family of prisoners and political prisoners, and is very dangerous from the point of view of the disorder of negotiations,” Gerashchenko emphasized.
On February 15, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko said that in a telephone conversation with Putin , held a few days before, the issue of exchange of prisoners was discussed. Poroshenko noted that the Ukrainian authorities "do everything possible to return our home - our warriors who are illegally in prisons in the occupied territory, Mr. Suschenko, Mr. Sentsov, and Kolchenko, and the Crimean Tatars, which are located on the territory of the Russian Federation."
“The lion's part of the conversation was dedicated to this,” the Ukrainian president said. “We are doing everything in order to accelerate as much as possible, so that this month, steps take place that allow us to name the names and call dates”
On December 28, the representative of the President of Ukraine in the Verkhovna Rada, Irina Lutsenko, stated that Russian citizens who were in prison in Ukraine for participation in armed aggression and the attachment for integrity of the country were not issued by militants of the DPR and LPR during the exchange of prisoners, since they are supposed to be exchanged for political prisoners in Russia. According to the official, Poroshenko "plans to carry out serious work on the return of our guys." Lutsenko called prisoners from Russia "an additional card" and "serious argument" in negotiations with Moscow on the liberation of Ukrainians-Poluzeca.
Later, Poroshenko personally confirmed this information. “There will be more efforts to draw out our citizens from Russian prisons, from the Crimea of the occupied - and for this we have not given a single Russian today,” he said. “And more than 15 citizens of Russia who are in Ukrainian prisons should be used to return home Syshchenko, Sentsov, Kolchenko, Klykh, Klykh and many, many others.”