RFE
11 Sep 2019, 23:45 GMT+10
KYIV -- Ukrainian journalist and former prisoner Roman Sushchenko says he plans to organize an auction to sell pictures he drew and painted while imprisoned in Russia for almost three years on a spying conviction activists have called fabricated for political reasons.
Speaking at a news conference on September 11, four days after his release in a prisoner swap between Moscow and Kyiv, Sushchenko said he would use the proceeds from the auction of dozens of works he created while in prison to support other Ukrainian citizens held in Russia on politically motivated charges.
Sushchenko, a Paris-based correspondent for the Ukrinform news agency, was detained during a visit to Moscow in 2016 on suspicion of collecting classified information.
The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) claimed that Sushchenko works for the Ukrainian Defense Ministry and that he gathered information about the Russian military and National Guard.
'Regarding the further fate of these works, I have an idea to hold a charity auction and use the funds accordingly to support our political prisoners and their families, their children,' he said.
Sushchenko, who was sentenced to 12 years in prison in Russia in June last year, was released from Russian custody in a prisoner swap between Kyiv and Moscow on September 7.
The two countries exchanged 70 prisoners in total in the first major prisoner swap between them since 2017.
Sushchenko told reporters he was grateful to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and his predecessor, Petro Poroshenko, for their contributions to his release from Russian custody, as well as to French President Emanuel Macron and Ukrainian and international diplomats for their efforts.
Relations between Moscow and Kyiv have been tense since 2014, when Russia took control of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula and began backing separatists in the conflict in eastern Ukraine, which has left more than 13,000 people dead.
Sushchenko said that he plans to continue working as a journalist.
Copyright (c) 2018. RFE/RL, Inc. Republished with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036
Get a daily dose of Northern Ireland News news through our daily email, its complimentary and keeps you fully up to date with world and business news as well.
Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to Northern Ireland News.
More InformationNEW YORK CITY, New York: With just weeks to spare before a potential government default, U.S. lawmakers passed a sweeping tax and spending...
PARIS, France: Fast-fashion giant Shein has been fined 40 million euros by France's antitrust authority over deceptive discount practices...
PALO ALTO/TEL AVIV: The battle for top AI talent has claimed another high-profile casualty—this time at Safe Superintelligence (SSI),...
FRANKLIN, Tennessee: Hundreds of thousands of Nissan and Infiniti vehicles are being recalled across the United States due to a potential...
REDMOND, Washington: Microsoft is the latest tech giant to announce significant job cuts, as the financial strain of building next-generation...
LONDON UK - U.S. stock markets were closed on Friday for Independence Day. Global Forex Markets Wrap Up Friday with Greeback Comeback...
MOSCOW, Russia: This week, Russia became the first country to officially recognize the Taliban as the government of Afghanistan since...
CAIRO, Egypt: This week, both Hamas and Israel shared their views ahead of expected peace talks about a new U.S.-backed ceasefire plan....
WASHINGTON, D.C.: The Trump administration has made public a visa decision that would usually be kept private. It did this to send...
MADRID, Spain: Liverpool footballer Diogo Jota and his younger brother, André Silva, have died in a car accident in Spain. Spanish...
LONDON, U.K.: An unrelenting heatwave sweeping across Europe has pushed early summer temperatures to historic highs, triggering deadly...
President Donald Trump's plans to build a space-based Golden Dome missile defense shield have drawn immediate criticism from China,...