Amnesty call for release of Vitishko

Yevgeny Vitishko is a prisoner of conscience, punished for exposing environmental damage around the construction of the Sochi Winter Olympics.

He has been charged with a string of petty crimes in recent years - from allegedly damaging a fence, to swearing at a bus stop - as local authorities attempt to restrict his movements and clamp down on dissenting views.

Right now, Yevgeny is on his way to a prison camp, where he will serve a three year sentence for apparently damaging a fence. The charges, his conviction and Yevgeny's trial and appeal are all suspect - designed to punish him for speaking out.

Imprisoned for environmental activism

As a member of non-governmental organisation Environmental Watch for North Caucasus, Yevgeny and his colleagues have been harassed for speaking about ecological concerns around the Sochi Winter Olympics.

In 2012, Yevgeny appeared in court on charges of damaging an illegally-erected fence while he and others collected evidence of unlawful deforestation and construction in the area surrounding Sochi. The trial was politically-motivated; Yevgeny was dealt a two-year sentence that was suspended temporarily.

Until he was called to serve the prison sentence, Yevgeny was under strict curfew. At the end of last year, he was brought before court again for allegedly violating his curfew. The court ruled that he should spend three years in prison. Yevgeny challenged this and his appeal was set for February this year.

Pre-Sochi: detained for ‘swearing at a bus stop’

As Yevgeny's trial approached, he was approchaed by police. On Monday 3 February, they detained him, explaining that he was suspected of stealing. The police later changed his charge to petty hooliganism, in relation to allegations that Yevgeny had sworn out loud while at a bus stop.

The police took Yevgeny’s fingerprints, inspected his mobile phone and ushered him to court that afternoon. When Yevgeny asked to see his lawyer in court, his request was refused; instead, he was offered a state-appointed lawyer, which he turned down.

Yegveny’s alleged crime of ‘swearing at a bus stop’ had apparently been overheard by two witnesses, who police claimed had signed statements condemning Yevgeny. Neither witness appeared in court.

Silenced during the Winter Olympics

Yegveny was detained and sentenced just a few days before the Sochi Winter Olympics was due to start. His detention for 15 days, from the day of his arrest, meant that he was conveniently imprisoned for the majority of the Games. His arrest, court hearing and detention sentence (all rushed through in one day) were thinly-veiled attempts to prevent Yevgeny, a well-known environmental activist, from protesting while the world focused on Sochi.

Unfair appeal hearing

Yevgeny's appeal for the fence-damaging charges took place while he was in detention for swearing. He was only allowed to take part via video link. When his appeal was turned down, and his three-year prison sentence reaffirmed, Yevgeny was escorted from his detention cell to a police vehicle for transfer to a prison colony.

We don't know where he is. Yevgey's family, lawyer and colleagues are worried about his wellbeing. Sign the petition to ask the authorities in charge to tell us where he is, and to let him go.

Wider crackdown on rights in Russia

One day after Yevgeny’s detention, another member of Environmental Watch for North Caucasus was also seized by police on bogus charges. Igor Kharchenko was arrested on the pretext that his car had been ‘involved in a crime’ - right after three masked men had smashed in the vehicle’s windows. Igor is currently being held in a police station in Krasnodar, in Sochi.

Please sign the petition to let Russian authorities know that the glitz of the Winter Olympics can’t mask their crackdown on human rights.

prisoners of conscience

light a candle

your voice for justice

behind the prison walls

samvittighedsfanger

tænd et lille lys

dit råb om retfærdighed

bag fængslets mure 

(Bjarne Kim Pedersen)