A court in Crimea rejected an appeal to extend the arrest of the freelancer “Crimea. Realii"

The Supreme Court of Crimea rejected an appeal to extend the arrest of a freelancer for the publication “Crimea. Realities" to Vladislav Esipenko. He will remain under arrest in the pre-trial detention center until at least July 11, 2021. Crimea.Realities reported this.

Previously, Esipenko was charged with the manufacture of explosives (Part 1 of Article 223.1 of the Criminal Code) and their storage (Article 222 of the Criminal Code).

According to Esipenko’s wife, the freelancer was not brought to the meeting - he was present via video link. She also noted that her husband feels fine, plays sports in the pre-trial detention center and regularly receives parcels from loved ones.

At the beginning of May, information was received that the examination did not find fingerprints on the grenade seized from the arrested freelancer.

• On March 10, FSB officers detained Elizaveta Pavlenko and Vladislav Esipenko at a rally in memory of Taras Shevchenko in Crimea. On March 16, the FSB reported that Esipenko was detained for “collecting information in the interests of the special services of Ukraine,” namely the Foreign Intelligence Service; during his arrest, an explosive device was found in his car. The head of Radio Liberty confirmed that Esipenko worked with their project “Crimea.Realities”. The Ukrainian was arrested until mid-July.
• According to the journalist, security forces planted a grenade in his car, and then tortured him with electricity and beat him. Esipenko was forced to confess, including during an interview with the Krym24 TV channel. Subsequently, he renounced the testimony given under torture and exercised the right not to incriminate himself. Later Esipenko reported that the appointed lawyer persuaded him to confess.