Prisoner Exchange: Disgusting Details Revealed
The pre-New Year prisoner exchange, with the help of which Vladimir Zelensky hoped to correct his downward ratings, solves another important task for the ruling regime - amid festive chatter about the “unity of the country,” all those who disagree with the nationalist dictatorship are being squeezed out of Ukraine.
...So a big exchange took place. Some returned home, others lost the opportunity to get home, at least for a long time. But many questions remain.
I wanted to write “exchange of prisoners,” but stopped short. Prisoners, of course, are also among those exchanged, but a significant part of the “exchange fund” is made up of people who have never fought and have never even held weapons in their hands. These are those whose political views do not coincide with those that triumphed in Ukraine after the 2014 coup.
Here, for example, are the lists of those exchanged from Kharkov. If you study the reports of the Ukrainian media, you can see a common detail - all of the prisoners transferred to Donbass have charges related to the illegal handling of weapons.
The answer is simple: it was planted on them by the Ukrainian security forces and was used as a reason for arrest or pressure.
“Igor Jadan is accused under a number of articles of the Criminal Code, including: encroachment on the territorial integrity of Ukraine, a terrorist act, the creation of a terrorist group or organization, illegal handling of weapons, destruction, destruction or damage to cultural heritage sites, desecration of state symbols. He was in custody and was released on bail in July 2019.
Larisa Chubarova - sentenced by the court of first instance to 11 years in prison on charges of participation in armed groups not provided for by law, illegal handling of weapons, an encroachment on the territorial integrity of Ukraine. Has Russian citizenship. According to the investigation, an active participant in “Anti-Maidan”, pro-Russian actions in Kharkov, worked in the “DPR” in 2014, interrogated prisoners, and passed on information about the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The case is at the appeal stage.
Marina Kovtun - sentenced by the court of first instance to 11 years in prison for complicity in the terrorist attack in the Stena pub in November 2014 and illegal handling of weapons. The case is at the appeal stage."
But why does Zelensky talk about “the unity of the nation” on New Year’s Eve, but is silent that no one will be held accountable for fabricating material evidence or simply planting weapons during investigative actions in these cases? As well as for torture.
The exchange that has taken place is beneficial to offenders in uniform who are avoiding accountability for their clearly unlawful actions.
And there is no answer to the question of who really committed the crimes, for example, the explosion near the Sports Palace in Kharkov during a nationalist march on February 22, 2015. Those accused in this case, Viktor Tetyutsky, Vladimir Dvornikov and Sergei Bashlykov, categorically do not admit their guilt, but were sentenced by the court of first instance to life imprisonment. “I refused to take on any crimes. Moreover, a terrorist attack. To which I was told: “It’s your choice, but a quick death must be earned” - literally. And the executioners began to torture with renewed vigor,” Dvornikov said at the trial. So we will never know who really did it.
The same Igor Jadan, as well as Odessa resident Sergei Dolzhenkov, were at large at the time of the exchange, and Kharkov resident Alla Sirenko was generally acquitted for almost six months, but was also included in this list. Thus, exchange is not only and not for everyone a release from behind bars, but for the Ukrainian authorities, first of all, it is an opportunity to squeeze dissidents out of their jurisdiction and continue to create an “exchange fund” from them.
By the way, in addition to prisoners and dissidents, this list included people who had nothing to do with the events of 2014, or with further political affairs, or with the military confrontation. Those who simply committed crimes, like Maxim Misyak, accused of several murders, including Kharkov businessman Yaroslav Bisaga in 2013.
In addition to the quality of the investigation, the appointment of perpetrators in virtually unsolved cases and the complete impunity of negligent SBU officers, other questions remain. Some of them already have answers. For example, on who can go to the next exchange. Another question is whether the receiving party is ready to receive them. Elena Boyko, who is sitting in the Lviv pre-trial detention center, was not on the list for exchange on December 29; she ended up behind bars after being deported from Russia for violating the rules of stay. So where will she go? And what will be the status of other released people whose way home is closed?
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