Personal Information
- Birth date
- 16 июл. 1977 г. (48 years old)
- Special circumstances
- Ukrainian citizen, journalist, human rights defender, leftist views
- Notes
- Human rights activist, journalist and co-founder of the ZMINA Human Rights Center and Hromadske Radio. Coordinator and co-founder of the project to help refugees and Ukrainian internally displaced persons "Without Borders. This is one of the first initiatives in Ukraine promoting an anti-racist agenda and combating the use of hate speech in the media and public discourse. He provided support to many asylum seekers who were threatened with deportation from Ukraine to Russia, Belarus or other dangerous countries for them. Worked as a public relations specialist for UNHCR in the Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus region.
Butkevich Maksim Aleksandrovich
Case Information
- Region of case initiation:
- Luhansk Oblast
- Detention date:
- 24 июн. 2022 г.
- Charges:
- Art. 356 CC RF Part 1, Art. 105 CC RF Part 2 Clause a, Art. 30 CC RF Part 1
- Sentence:
- 13 years strict regime
- Estimated release date:
- 18 окт. 2024 г.
- Case categories:
- POWs, Journalist persecution, War-related, Occupied territories
Case Description
In June 2022, Ukrainian human rights activist Maksym Butkevych was captured in the area of the town of Horlivka (Luhansk region). At that time, he was serving in the special battalion "Berlingo" of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the position of platoon commander. Until June 14, 2022, Butkevich's unit was located in Kyiv and the Kyiv region. On June 14, he reported that he would no longer be able to meet with anyone, as his unit was being transferred to the Poltava region. The last message came from him in the evening of June 18, 2022, to his father, after which contact with Maxim Butkevich was lost. Two months later, on August 19, 2022, the Russian Ministry of Defense, in response to a request from lawyer Leonid Solovyov, reported that Butkevich was on the territory occupied by the forces of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic. A criminal case was opened against the human rights activist on charges of attempted murder of two or more persons by a generally dangerous method, use of prohibited means and methods of warfare, and intentional destruction or damage to property by a generally dangerous method. According to the Russian security forces' version, on June 4, 2022, in Severodonetsk, Butkevich fired a grenade launcher at the entrance of a residential building. According to the Investigative Committee, two people were injured as a result. On March 10, 2023, the "Supreme Court of the LNR" found Maksim Butkevich guilty and sentenced him to 13 years in a strict regime penal colony. August 22, 2023, the First Appellate Court of General Jurisdiction upheld the sentence. On October 18, 2024, Maksim Butkevich was released during a prisoner exchange between Russia and Ukraine.
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