Oleksii Bessarabov, a Ukrainian journalist, reserve officer of the Navy of Ukraine, employee of the analytical center “Nomos”, and since 2016 – a victim of political persecution by the Russian Federation, has been illegally detained for 4 years in IK No. 1 in the village of Kochubeivske, Stavropol Krai. The Association spoke with Mykhailo Honchar, Oleksii’s friend and colleague, to find out about the condition of the prisoner in illegal captivity.

‍“As you know, after the full-scale invasion, the work of the Ukrainian consular services in the Russian Federation which previously visited Oleksii from time to time was suspended. Now he feels pressure on him and does not communicate with other prisoners on political topics at all. Information about his condition comes to his friends sporadically, when they manage to get at least some news from Oleksii. He is holding on, but Liosha’s health is definitely not getting better,” says Mykhailo Honchar.

Activists living in Russia send books to Bessarabov. Learning German from textbooks and reading fiction bring emotional relief to the prisoner.

‍“I believe, sometimes there are favorable circumstances to bring our political prisoners home through an exchange. For example, the recent situation with the traitor Viacheslav Bohuslaiev who is to be exchanged for a thousand Ukrainian soldiers. This thousand could include at least those political prisoners who have been held in the Russian Federation for a long time and have a long term of imprisonment ahead of them,” Mykhailo says.

There is information that Yevhenii Pryhozhyn’s people have repeatedly visited Oleksii’s colony in the village of Kochubeivske to recruit prisoners to the ranks of combat units of the russian army.

As a reminder, in 2016, Oleksii Bessarabov became one of the three defendants in the falsified case of “Crimean terrorists”. They tortured him beating out confession. In April 2019, he was sentenced to 14 years of rigorous imprisonment and a fine of 300 000 rubles.