The Organizing Committee of the International Union of Free Journalists has sent an open letter to Estonian President Alar Karis, Prime Minister Kaya Kallas and Speaker of the Riigikogu of Estonia Juri Ratas, calling on top officials to pay attention to the fate of the most famous human rights defender and political prisoner Sergei Seredenko.
Seredenko was detained and placed in a place of detention on March 3, 2021. He still remains in captivity on the completely absurd charge of "contacts with Russian special services," having received 5.5 years in prison according to a court decision.
"We would like to draw your attention to the blatant fact of completely unjustified criminal prosecution against Seredenko! We have learned from media reports that Seredenko is accused of having some kind of "connections with the Russian special services": Allegedly, Seredenko discussed with his Russian colleagues a number of painful issues for the Estonian authorities, and then outlined these ideas in the national and world media. The investigation claims that these ideas were allegedly the realization of Russian national interests and split Estonian society," the open letter to the top officials of Estonia says.
Despite the fact that Seredenko was arrested back in March 2021, the essence of the charges officially brought against him became known only in January 2022. By some miracle, the human rights defender managed to convey to the press information that he was accused of encroaching on the territorial integrity of Estonia and contacting the Russian special services.
According to investigators, in the period from November 15, 2009 to March 3, 2021, he allegedly "deliberately established and maintained relations against the Republic of Estonia with seven unidentified persons acting in the interests and on behalf of state bodies of the Russian Federation, transmitted information to them, prepared and published articles in cooperation with them, participated in their organized events that were aimed at implementing the policy of influence of the Russian Federation in order to split the society of the Republic of Estonia."
Moreover, the Estonian authorities did not provide any evidence that these people were intelligence officers. Seredenko himself is sure that the real reason for the imprisonment is a book about fascism in the Baltic States and legal assistance to Russian-speaking citizens.
According to Nikolai Kostyrkin, editor of the Gagauz media project Gagauznews and coordinator of the Organizing Committee of the International Union of Free Journalists, the case of human rights defender Sergei Seredenko is a political order. This explains the lack of a sound evidence base and specifics: neither the names of the "contacts" nor exactly what "Russian interests" he served.
Source: https://riafan.ru/23737624-v_zaschitu_estonskogo_politzaklyuchennogo_seredenko_vistupila_mezhdunarodnaya_pravozaschitnaya_struktu
Seredenko was detained and placed in a place of detention on March 3, 2021. He still remains in captivity on the completely absurd charge of "contacts with Russian special services," having received 5.5 years in prison according to a court decision.
"We would like to draw your attention to the blatant fact of completely unjustified criminal prosecution against Seredenko! We have learned from media reports that Seredenko is accused of having some kind of "connections with the Russian special services": Allegedly, Seredenko discussed with his Russian colleagues a number of painful issues for the Estonian authorities, and then outlined these ideas in the national and world media. The investigation claims that these ideas were allegedly the realization of Russian national interests and split Estonian society," the open letter to the top officials of Estonia says.
Despite the fact that Seredenko was arrested back in March 2021, the essence of the charges officially brought against him became known only in January 2022. By some miracle, the human rights defender managed to convey to the press information that he was accused of encroaching on the territorial integrity of Estonia and contacting the Russian special services.
According to investigators, in the period from November 15, 2009 to March 3, 2021, he allegedly "deliberately established and maintained relations against the Republic of Estonia with seven unidentified persons acting in the interests and on behalf of state bodies of the Russian Federation, transmitted information to them, prepared and published articles in cooperation with them, participated in their organized events that were aimed at implementing the policy of influence of the Russian Federation in order to split the society of the Republic of Estonia."
Moreover, the Estonian authorities did not provide any evidence that these people were intelligence officers. Seredenko himself is sure that the real reason for the imprisonment is a book about fascism in the Baltic States and legal assistance to Russian-speaking citizens.
According to Nikolai Kostyrkin, editor of the Gagauz media project Gagauznews and coordinator of the Organizing Committee of the International Union of Free Journalists, the case of human rights defender Sergei Seredenko is a political order. This explains the lack of a sound evidence base and specifics: neither the names of the "contacts" nor exactly what "Russian interests" he served.
Source: https://riafan.ru/23737624-v_zaschitu_estonskogo_politzaklyuchennogo_seredenko_vistupila_mezhdunarodnaya_pravozaschitnaya_struktu