Vladyslav Yesypenko

Vladyslav Yesypenko is a Ukrainian journalist and freelance correspondent. He was sentenced to five years in prison on fabricated charges.

In 2016, Yesypenko began working as a freelance correspondent with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s (RFE/RL) Ukrainian Service’s regional radio news outlet Crimea.Realities (Krym.Realii), which covers social, political and human rights situations in Russia-annexed Crimea. As part of this work, he regularly commuted between Ukraine and occupied Crimea. As a correspondent, Yesypenko prepared videos on social and ecological topics impacting the Crimean Tatar community as well as the ecological crises and destruction brought on by the ongoing Russian occupation of the region.

In the days before Yesypenko’s arrest, he was working on a video report on the streets of Crimea, asking residents how life had changed in the seven years since the start of Russia’s occupation of the peninsula.  He had also attended an event marking the anniversary of Ukrainian poet and thinker, Taras Shevchenko, to report on the event and record the flower laying ceremony.  .

On March 10, 2021, Yesypenko was travelling by car with a colleague through the mountains of Crimea on his way to conduct an interview. In the course of this drive he was stopped by the Main Directorate for Traffic Safety and his car was surrounded by unmarked vehicles. Russian security agents from the Federal Security Service (FSB) exited from the unmarked cars wearing plainclothes and covering their faces with balaclavas. They removed Yesypenko and his colleague from the car and conducted a search of the vehicle. Yesypenko observed officers place a homemade explosive device in the glove box and FSB agents demanded he sign search protocols, which he refused.

Yesypenko was subsequently detained and taken to a undisclosed location. He was held incommunicado there and subjected to torture and degrading treatment to coerce a confession.

While being subjected to physical mistreatment, officers repeatedly interrogated Yesypenko about matters related to his journalism and on alleged connections to Ukrainian intelligence services.  Due to the severity of the torture, Yesypenko signed papers and made a video recording stating that he was a member of Ukrainian intelligence in Crimea on an assignment.  Officers also took Yesypenko to a hidden cache where they alleged he obtained the explosive device.  They recorded this travel on video and further threatened Yesypenko to confess to their fabricated story. He was given a state-appointed lawyer who strongly encouraged Yesypenko to agree to plead guilty, promising that if he would confess to “everything,” they would allow him to call his wife and would provide him some assistance with food and clothing. Yesypenko rejected this offer.

On March 12, 2021, authorities officially opened an investigation into Yesypenko for “illegal production, repair, or modification of firearms” and disclosed that Yesypenko was being held at SIZO Pre-Trial Detention Center No. 1 in Simferopol. Four days later he was accused of committing espionage, alleging that confessed to be as spy for the Ukrainian Security Service. During this period he was repeatedly denied access to his own lawyer.

Yesypenko’s trial began on July 15, 2021. The proceedings included numerous contradictions and procedural violations. For example, while testifying the FSB officers provided differing accounts of who found the improvised explosive device in the vehicle and where it was located. In addition to the testimony, the prosecution also presented a signed confession from Yesypenko as well as a compelled televised interview.  Although the defense requested that these “confessions” be inadmissible because they were extracted under torture and threat of torture, the judge allowed them to be presented at trial.

On February 16, 2022, Yesypenko was found guilty of manufacturing illegal weapons and sentenced to six years in prison. In August, an appeals court upheld the conviction on the grounds that that the “confession” obtained under torture had “actively helped solve the crime.”  However, due to this mistreatment, his sentence was reduced to five years.

Yesypenko served the remainder of his sentence at Penitentiary No. 2 of the General Regime. During his detention, he reported that the conditions in the facility were poor and he was prevented from accessing adequate health care.

In November 2024, Freedom Now filed a petition with the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention on behalf of Yesypenko.

On June 20, 2025, Yesypenko was released from Russian custody and reunited with his family in Ukraine.