posted 18 Feb 2015, 05:16 by Rights in Russia
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updated 18 Feb 2015, 05:20
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 On 18 February 2014, environmentalist Evgeny Vitishko began serving a three-year prison term in a penal colony. In June 2012 he had been sentenced to a suspended sentence of three years for allegedly 'damaging the fence' around the dacha belonging to Aleksandr Tkachev, governor of Krasnodar region. The fence, according to environmentalists from North Caucasus Environmental Watch, had been put up illegally. The alleged damage consisted of the phrases 'Alex is a thief', and 'The Forest Belongs to Everyone'. On 20 December 2013 a court ruled that the suspended sentence should become a real term in prison on the grounds that Evgeny Vitishko had allegedly violated the conditions of the suspended sentence. Sources: 'ПРОШЕЛ ГОД СО ДНЯ ЗАКЛЮЧЕНИЯ В КОЛОНИЮ ЕВГЕНИЯ ВИТИШКО', Экологическая Вахта по Северному Кавказу, 18 February 2015 Evgeny Vitishko, Front Line Defenders Shaun Walker, 'Sochi environmentalist jailed for three years for spray-painting a fence', The Guardian, 12 February 2014 'Yevgeny Vitishko sent to a penal colony', Amnesty International, 24 March 2014 'Friends of the Earth Russia: February 18 – day of solidarity for activist Evgeny Vitishko', Friends of the Earth International, 17 February 2015 |
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