Skachko faces up to 10 years in prison for “conspiracy” with Vyshinsky
Opposition Ukrainian journalist Vladimir Skachko, in whose apartment SBU conducted a search, could be arrested as early as next week and appear in court.
The journalist himself spoke about this during a Skype broadcast on the Rossiya 1 TV channel, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“I want to congratulate Mr. Tryukhan and Mr. Belov. Tryukhan for calling on the SBU to deal with me so that I would not walk alive on the streets of Kyiv. They tried to accuse me of tearing off Crimea and going to tear off Donbass. This is called “an attack on the territorial integrity of Ukraine.” On Monday March 11 at 11 o'clock I will most likely be arrested. I'm facing five to ten years in prison.
I am going in collusion with [the arrested editor of RIA Novosti Ukraine] Kirill Vyshinsky. The article “Conspiracy” is needed in order to go in a group, so that the article is 5.10 with confiscation of property. I’m waiting to go to Kherson with my own money, because the “Crimean prosecutor’s office” located in Kherson has opened this case against me. I was given a suspicion and a summons for questioning,” he said.
According to the journalist, the formal reason for initiating a criminal case against him was an analytical article about Crimea, written back in 2014.
“The reason for initiating a criminal case was an article published on March 16, 2014. It was called: “Crimea. Return or departure." There I tried to analyze how Ukraine could save Crimea. For example, negotiations. First to talk, and then to shoot and shout at each other. This was perceived by certain gentlemen as calls for an encroachment on territorial integrity.
I don’t know in what delusional head this was born, but I won’t hide, I haven’t committed any criminal acts, and that’s why I’ll come and let them sort it out. I have hypertension, I won't last long there, so it's fun. Tryukhan and Belov will have to rejoice,” Skachko said.
He also called the 14-hour search of the SBU in his apartment, during which he was only offered suspicious food brought by operatives with them, as torture.
“These are procedural cases, I cannot comment on why it is taking so long. It's very similar to torture, I drank two cups of coffee in the entire 14 hours. This is our democracy. They brought me some food in a little bag, I gratefully refused, because I want to die in prison, so that Tryukhan and Belov would be more pleasant,” the journalist summed up.
At the same time, Ukrainian political scientist Vadim Tryukhan began shouting that Vladimir Skachko hates his country, after which he called him a “traitor” and “scum.”
“You are a traitor and a scumbag,” host Yevgeny Popov answered him sharply.
We would like to remind you that PolitNavigator previously reported that the SBU was investigating the case against Vladimir Skachko tied up “material evidence” – magnets with the image of Russian President Vladimir Putin and the former leader of the USSR Nikita Khrushchev.
It should be noted that during a search in the journalist’s apartment SBU officers did not allow a lawyer to see him and human rights activists.
If you find an error, please select a piece of text and press Ctrl + Enter.
Thank you!
Now the editors are aware.