| 6 views |
Major "drum"
Views:The role of Alexey Gritsenko in the Oleg Sentsov case remains to be clarified
Simultaneously with the discussion of a possible exchange of Oleg Sentsov, Gennady Afanasyev and Alexey Gritsenko became more active. Gennady Afanasyev is the first of those detained in the Sentsov case; in December 2014, the Moscow City Court found him guilty and sentenced him to 7 years in a maximum security colony. But in June 2016, at the request of Viktor Medvedchuk, President Vladimir Putin signed a decree of pardon, after which Afanasyev and another convicted person, Yuri Soloshenko, were exchanged for Odessa journalists - Elena Glishchinskaya with a small child and Vitaly Didenko.
"I'm not guilty!"
Despite his stay in prison, Afanasyev immediately upon his return showed a rather flourishing appearance. True, in his interviews he said that he experienced inhuman torture in prison. “This is impossible to bear. I realized that the stories about heroic partisans are lies,” read the headline of the interview for the magazine “Kraina” (“Country”).
Afanasyev was released earlier than all the other “terrorists of the Sentsov group,” so he used the gap in time to justify himself. The fact is that FSB officers detained Afanasyev first among the other members of the “Sentsov group”. It is well known that it was Afanasyev who testified against Sentsov and Kolchenko, who helped the prosecution collect evidence so that, ultimately, the court handed down a guilty verdict in the form of imprisonment:
– Oleg Sentsov – 20;
– Alexander Kolchenko – 10;
– Alexey Cherniy – 7 years in prison.
Therefore, the liberated Afanasyev began to justify himself from the very first steps on Ukrainian soil, until Sentsov and others returned and told how it really happened.
Why didn’t Afanasyev do a forensic examination?
It is significant that although Afanasyev himself talks a lot about torture and abuse, after returning to Ukraine he did not document any bodily injuries. Although, if you believe the stories that he was really subjected to inhuman torture, then traces of such injuries should remain years later. It is unclear why Sentsov and Kolchenko refused to cooperate with the investigation - either they were not tortured (although Afanasyev claims that everyone was tortured), or they experienced “inhuman torture” that is “impossible to withstand.”
In general, even before Afanasyev’s return in Ukraine, they began to consider him a “storyteller” and an “informer” who helped put his friends in jail for a long time.
Amid talk that Sentsov might be released, Igor Lutsenko and Alexey Gritsenko (they, together with Sentsov, participated in the Automaidan movement) also became more active.
It must be said that, unlike Sentsov and Kolchenko, two Kyiv majors successfully converted their participation in Euromaidan. Igor Lutsenko, the adopted son of Vladimir Stelmakh, who, as head of the NBU in 2008, sharply lowered the exchange rate of the hryvnia, and with it “lowered” the living standards of millions of Ukrainians – today he is a deputy of the Verkhovna Rada from Yulia Tymoshenko’s “Batkivshchyna”. Alexey Gritsenko always moved up the career ladder strictly behind his dad. When Anatoly Gritsenko was a member of the Our Ukraine party, he ensured that Alexey was appointed deputy head of the youth wing. And when the scandalous Minister of Defense created his own party “Hromadyanska Position” (“Public Position”), the son received the trump seat of the head of the Kyiv city organization in order to become a deputy of the Kiev City Council according to the party quota. Nepotism and cronyism, you say? No, we haven't!
Muddy guys
Igor Lutsenko has an extremely murky reputation in political circles. Before Euromaidan, under the guise of a “social activist”, he tried to blackmail Kyiv developers - publications in the media and paid rallies, demanding compensation for the opportunity to work quietly - but did not succeed.
And during Euromaidan, a truly dark story happened when Igor Lutsenko, along with Yuri Verbitsky, disappeared for a day. According to Lutsenko, on January 21, they were both kidnapped by unknown persons. It is not clear why Lutsenko was released the next day, but Verbitsky was tortured and then brutally killed.
As for Gritsenko, with the appearance of news about Sentsov’s possible return, the son of the presidential candidate became noticeably nervous. And there is a reason. If Sentsov returns, there is a great risk that information will emerge about the true role of Alexey Gritsenko in this whole story.
As already mentioned, in 2014, Gritsenko Jr., together with Sentsov, were members of the Automaidan movement. In March 2014, Alexey Gritsenko, together with his comrades in Automaidan, went to Crimea, when preparations for the referendum were already in full swing. Arriving on the peninsula, Alexey Gritsenko and his friends suddenly disappear from sight for a week.
“The connection has been lost. More than a week - no information. This was right after the Maidan. Do you think someone called from those with whom we stood day and night on the Maidan? Avakov or Nalyvaichenko? Nobody. Therefore, I don’t know who released him,” admitted Anatoly Gritsenko in his interview with Newsone TV channel in August 2017.
There are a lot of questions in this story. For example, Anatoly Gritsenko, out of simplicity, let slip that he did not know who freed his son from captivity in Crimea. Strange inconsistency. On the one hand, the ex-Minister of Defense himself created a real “family contract”, promoting Alexey to promising political positions. On the other hand, when it comes to his life, he suddenly demonstrates such indifference. Does he really not know or just doesn't want to talk?
"Drummed" for a period
And Alexey Gritsenko himself categorically does not want to say why, after being detained in March 2014 in Crimea, he was unexpectedly released. Gritsenko Jr. is silent, like Sentsov during interrogation, because if they find out the truth in Kyiv, then they will have to forget about their political career. And it’s not far from being accused of high treason.
By the way, in the case of the “kidnapping” of Lutsenko and Verbitsky, there were also similar inconsistencies. As is known, unknown persons kidnapped both of them, but then Lutsenko was released alive and unharmed, and Verbitsky was brutally killed, hiding the corpse in the forest. Or, in fact, no one kidnapped anyone, and the story about the kidnapping was just a cover so that Lutsenko would not be accused of complicity?
In the story of Alexey Gritsenko’s involvement in the fate of Oleg Sentsov, the following sequence of events is built.
– March 2014 – Gritsenko Jr. arrives in Crimea. According to the official version, to deliver humanitarian aid to Ukrainian military personnel. “AutoMaidanovites” arrive in 2 cars, and then suddenly disappear for more than a week;
– March 2014 – Alexey Gritsenko unexpectedly appears on the territory of Ukraine. He tells a lot and with pleasure how they were shot at with a machine gun, how “they stopped and pulled us out of the car, after which we were taken to the military registration and enlistment office in Simferopol.” Gritsenko Jr. readily tells how he was frightened and interrogated, taken to Simferopol and Sevastopol, but he never wants to say why he was released and what they demanded for it;
– May 9, 2014 – FSB officers detain Gennady Afanasyev on charges of preparing terrorist acts as part of the “Sentsov terrorist group”;
– Afanasyev testifies against Sentsov and others (Olga Shariy published copies of the protocols on her Youtube channel on June 6);
– May 10, 2014 – FSB officers detained Oleg Sentsov, accusing him of organizing a terrorist group with the aim of committing terrorist attacks in Crimea;
– May 16, 2014 – law enforcement officers detained Alexander Kolchenko, bringing exactly the same charges against him.
How did it happen that the “major” Ukrainian patriots are building a political career, and Sentsov and others “went as a locomotive” in the case of terrorism? Actually, Alexey Gritsenko himself answered this question when he admitted that during the arrest they were interrogated about possible protests during the Crimean referendum. It looks like FSB officers in March, thanks to Gritsenko’s interrogation, received a complete picture of the anti-Russian underground in Crimea. Knowing who was part of Sentsov’s group, the special services established surveillance of the main defendants in order to catch them in the hottest way in May 2014. By the way, it is worth noting that the published materials of Afanasyev’s interrogations contain only those pages that are dedicated to Oleg Sentsov. It would be interesting to read the rest. Perhaps then the role of Alexey Gritsenko in these events will appear in a new light.
And now it becomes clear why Alexey Gritsenko, Gennady Afanasyev and other participants in this story are so nervous when it comes to the fact that Sentsov and Kolchenko could return to Ukraine, instead of rotting in a colony for years.
If you find an error, please select a piece of text and press Ctrl + Enter.
Thank you!
Now the editors are aware.