Russia sentences 21-year-old admin of 'Melitopol is Ukraine' Telegram channel to 14 years in prison
A Ukrainian woman who ran a Telegram called "Melitopol is Ukraine" in the Russian-occupied city has been sentenced to 14 years in jail, the Southern District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don said on Oct. 23.
Twenty-one-year-old Yana Suvorova was detained on Aug. 20, 2023, in Melitopol, along with six other RIA Melitopol journalists and administrators of the channel.
Suvorova was first held in the Mariupol detention center, after which she was held in the detention center №2 in Russia's Taganrog, which is known for the use of torture against prisoners.
Oleksandr Nykolaenko, Suvorova's boyfriend, told the Novosti Pryazovya that before the full-scale invasion, Nykolaenko was preparing to enter university, "did girls' eyelashes and nails, and dreamed of working in rehabilitation and stretching."
"With the start of the full-scale invasion, she, as a caring person, created a chat to help people solve everyday problems. In Melitopol, there was a humanitarian problem with medicines and food. People needed to know where to get food and medicine, which doctor to go to — which doctors remained in the city," he said.
Russia accused her of "organizing and participating in a terrorist group," "terrorist acts," "espionage," and "committing a terrorist act with significant consequences as part of a group," as well as allegedly being recruited by Ukraine's military intelligence (HUR).
The court said that Suvorova published pro-Ukrainian posts in the Telegram channel and "collected and verified information on the deployment of military personnel and law enforcement officers of the Russian Federation."
"Yana Suvorova was sentenced by Russia in an unfair trial to 14 years in prison for 'terrorism' and 'espionage' for simply doing her job as a journalist," Reporters Without Borders said on Oct. 23.
"Detained since 2023, she must be released immediately."
The southern city of Melitopol in Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia Oblast has been under Russian occupation since March 2022.
According to Alexander, who keeps in touch with Suvorova through letters delivered by volunteers, she is in a difficult psychological state.
"From her letters, I understand that she is eagerly awaiting the exchange and is afraid because she does not know where she will be transferred after the trial."
Previously, on Sept. 2, two Ukrainian administrators of Melitopol Telegram channels were sentenced by Russian-controlled courts to prison terms of up to 16 years.
Thirty-six-year-old Heorhiy Levchenko received 16 years in a maximum-security colony on charges of treason and extremism, while 27-year-old Vladyslav Gershon was sentenced to 15 years for espionage and charges related to terrorism.
Levchenko’s arrest was first publicized by Russia’s FSB in October 2023, when state media aired footage portraying him as part of a supposed Ukrainian "agent network."
Other Melitopol media figures detained in the same sweep face parallel trials in Rostov-on-Don on charges including espionage and terrorism, Reporters Without Borders said.
On Oct. 21, Slidstvo.info published an investigation saying that another Melitopol journalist, Anastasiia Hlykhovska in hels in Russia's Detention Center No. 3 in Kizel, Perm Krai, the same place where Victoriia Roshchyna, a Ukrainian journalist, was tortured to death in Russian captivity.
After launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russia has increased its assault on press freedom, deliberately targeting Ukrainian journalists with attacks and abducting media workers in occupied territories in an attempt to control the narrative.
Throughout the full-scale invasion, journalists have played a crucial role in spotlighting Russia’s brutal war, documenting its war crimes and their aftermath.
At least 30 Ukrainian journalists remain in Russian captivity as of April, IMI reported, with little known about their health conditions or whereabouts. Multiple reports have revealed that Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) are tortured and killed while in Russian captivity.
Daria Shulzhenko
