Information about the release of Ukrainian political prisoner Andrey Zakhtey, who was detained in 2016 on the territory of the Crimean peninsula and sentenced to 6.5 years in prison, began to spread in the Ukrainian information space. This information, in particular, states that by a court decision in the summer of 2017, Zakhtey was deprived of Russian citizenship, which he received after moving to Crimea.
The Crimean Tatar Resource Center systematically and constantly deals with issues related to the fate of Ukrainian political prisoners, and is concerned about the dissemination in the Ukrainian information space of information that does not correspond to reality and may harm the fate of political prisoners.
The CTRC draws attention to the fact that Andrey Zakhtey, a citizen of Ukraine, never had Russian citizenship, because the Russian passport that he received on the territory of Crimea after its occupation in 2014, in accordance with the current legislation of Ukraine, is not a proper confirmation of his Russian citizenship. citizenship.
Regarding the information that Andrey Zakhtey was released, we note that the on February 10, 2023, the term of stay in a colony on the territory of Crimea really ended, but after the end of this period, he was not released!
On February 11, 2023 under the supervision of Zakhtey was transferred to an institution for temporary stay of foreign citizens on the territory of the Rostov region, where, in accordance with the decision of the local court of February 15, 2023, he will be kept closed for a certain period of time, during which documents for his deportation from the territory of the Russian Federation will be prepared.
We remind you that in March 2019 the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation made a decision on the undesirability of Andrey Zakhtey’s stay on the territory of the Russian Federation after his release from prison. According to available information, at the end of January 2023, the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Republic of Crimea decided to deport a citizen of Ukraine Zakhtey outside the Russian Federation.
We note that actually being in an institution for the temporary stay of foreign citizens on the territory of the Rostov region is not much different from serving a sentence in a colony, so it is premature to say that Andrey Zakhtey was released.
Andrey Zakhtey’s wife and CTRC lawyer Volodymyr Liashenko are taking measures to organize a meeting of political prisoner Andrii Zakhtey in the controlled territory of Ukraine in case of his deportation from the territory of the Russian Federation. Given the very difficult communication on this issue, we ask you to refrain from disseminating information that does not correspond to reality, in particular information about Andrey Zakhtey allegedly having Russian citizenship in the past.
We also ask you to take into account that receiving comments from Andrii Zakhtey himself or his wife and publishing any sensational materials based on these comments can actually damage the case for his release and transfer to the controlled territory of Ukraine in the near future.