Human rights advocate Maksym Butkevych sentenced to 13 years in prison by the Russian occupiers

The so-called ‘courts’ in the temporarily Russian-occupied parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions ‘sentenced’ the Ukrainian human rights advocate, journalist and serviceman Maksym Butkevych to 13 years in prison. Along with him, two Ukrainian servicemen, Viktor Pokhozey andVladyslav Shel, were ‘sentenced’ to 8,5 and 18,5 years of imprisonment respectively.

The occupiers charge the Ukrainian servicemen with ‘ill-treatment of civilian population’ and ‘using banned methods of warfare in the armed conflict’. Besides, the so-called ‘court’ accused Maksym Butkevych of an ‘attempted murder of two’ and ‘deliberate property damage’.

The Ukrainian human rights advocate, journalist, co-founder of the Human Rights Center ZMINA and Hromadske Radio, Maksym Butkevych was captured by the Russian occupiers in June 2022. It happened near Zolote and Hirske in the Luhansk region. Russians held Butkevych captive on the temporarily occupied territory of the Luhansk region. On June 24, the video of the interrogation of Butkevych and his brothers in combat appeared on the occupiers’ propagandist resources.

Maksym Butkevych is the Ukrainian human rights advocate specializing in assistance to refugees, displaced persons, and prevention of discrimination. He is the coordinator and co-founder of the project Without Borders which provides assistance to asylum seekers, displaced persons, and counters hate speech. During the Revolution of Dignity, Maksym Butkevych worked as a reporter and program host at Hromadske Radio. He had also worked for BBC World Service and a number of Ukrainian TV channels, been a visiting lecturer at the Kyiv Mohyla Academy and a member of the executive boards of the Ukrainian office of Amnesty International and Public Council at the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine.

Since March 2022, Maksym Butkevych has been defending Ukraine from the Russian occupiers within the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.