The Ukrainian World Congress (UWC) is alarmed by the recent disappearance in Russian custody of Ukrainian political prisoner Gennady Afanasyev and urges the international community, including human rights organizations, to pressure Russian authorities to disclose his whereabouts.
Gennady Afanasyev refused to testify at the trial of Ukrainian filmmaker Oleh Sentsov and civic activist Oleksandr Kolchenko, retracted his previous testimony and gave a detailed account of the torture and pressure to which he had been subjected in order to testify.
“The Ukrainian World Congress is alarmed by the continuing violations of the human rights of Ukrainians illegally detained in the Russian Federation and urges the international community to act without delay in securing their immediate release,” stated UWC President Eugene Czolij.
