Free Voices of Crimea
Free Voices of Crimea is a series of 16 text portraits of politically imprisoned civic journalists.
Years: 2024
Curators: Olesya Yaremchuk, Inna Bereznitska
Authors of the texts: Oleksandra Yefymenko, Iryna Slavinska, Olesya Yaremchuk, Vira Kuryko, Rustem
Khalilov, Olha Dukhnich, Yevheniia Henova
Copy editing: Anastasiia Levkova
Communications: Hanna Ustynova, Zakhar Davydenko
Design: Anastasiia Struk
Partners: The Ukrainians Media, Vivat, Human Rights Centre ZMINA, National Endowment for
Democracy (NED).
The special project became a result of the #SolidarityWords – a joint campaign of PEN Ukraine and
ZMINA to support politically imprisoned authors in occupied Crimea.
The project team narrates 16 stories of politically imprisoned journalists’ life, detention, and captivity. The publications include extracts from the protagonists’ diaries, letters, and speeches in court. Authors of the texts explore their court cases, communicate with families and human rights advocates.
The project includes the stories of Nariman Celal (liberated from Russian imprisonment on June 28, 2024, already after his story was published), Vladyslav Yesypenko, Amet Suleymanov, Server Mustafayev, Iryna Danylovych, Asan Ahtem, and Osman Arifmemetov.
Voices of Free Crimea is a project aimed at drawing public attention to the cases of Ukrainian hostages of Crimea. Each text is designed to keep Ukrainians focused on the stories of Crimean journalists, illegally imprisoned by the Russian occupation authorities. Another project’s goal is advocatory and consists in facilitating the international pressure on Russia to liberate the political prisoners.
The text portraits of politically imprisoned journalists are posted on The Ukrainians website. The book Free Voices of Crimea is going to be published in Ukrainian and English languages in 2024 by Vivat Publishing House. Compliers – reporter Olesya Yaremchuk and co-founder of The Ukrainians Media Inna Bereznitska.
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