Ukraine managed to return 10 more of our people from Russian captivity. Among them — deputy head of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people Nariman Jelal, captured in Crimea back in 2021.
The President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky announced this.
Freed from captivity June 28
Art critic and researcher at the Gorlovka Art Museum Elena Pekh, who was kept in custody by the occupiers since 2018, returns home.
Now watching
Another political captive Valery Matyushenko was detained by occupation forces in the Donetsk region back in July 2017, and was soon illegally sentenced to 10 years in prison.
It was possible to return the priests of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church Bohdan Geleta and Ivan Levitsky, captured in Berdyansk for resistance to the occupiers.
Ukraine also managed to return several civilians illegally detained and convicted in Belarus.
Among them — Nikolai Shvets, whom the Belarusian authorities accused of blowing up a Russian A-50 long-range radar warning military aircraft at the airfield in Machulishchi.
Natalia Zakharenko, Pavel Kuprienko, Lyudmila Goncharenko and Ekaterina Bryukhanova are also returning home.
— All of them have already been released and are at home — in Ukraine, — President Vladimir Zelensky emphasized.
The head of state noted the efforts of the Vatican to bring these people home from Russian captivity.
As noted in the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, the 53rd exchange, which began on June 25 with the release of 90 defenders, ended today.
In total, as part of the 53rd exchange, 100 Ukrainian citizens were returned home. A total of 3,310 people have already been released from Russian captivity.
Detention of Nariman Jelal
Back in 2021, Russian security forces took Crimean Tatar activist Nariman Dzhelal from his home in the village of Pervomaiskoye after conducting searches.
For some time his whereabouts remained unknown. Soon, the head of the Mejlis, Refat Chubarov, announced that Nariman Jelal was taken to the pseudo-directorate of the Russian FSB in the Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol.
Subsequently, the pseudo-court of Crimea announced the verdict of Nariman Dzhelal, who was illegally sentenced to 17 years in prison in a maximum security colony with a fine of 700 thousand rubles and restriction of freedom for 1.5 years.
