Russian Federation and its occupational forces must immediately release Maksym Butkevych

Written declaration No. 776 | Doc. 15767 | 05 May 2023

Signatories:

Mr Søren SØNDERGAARD, Denmark, UEL ; Mr Stéphane BERGERON, Canada ; Mr Özdemir BEROVA, Cyprus* [Resolution 1376 (2004)] ; Ms Laura CASTEL, Spain, UEL ; Mr Jeremy CORBYN, United Kingdom, SOC ; Mr Constantinos EFSTATHIOU, Cyprus, SOC ; Mr Emmanuel FERNANDES, France, UEL ; Mr Paul GAVAN, Ireland, UEL ; Mr Antón GÓMEZ-REINO, Spain, UEL ; Mr Oleksii GONCHARENKO, Ukraine, EC/DA ; Mr Jean-Pierre GRIN, Switzerland, ALDE ; Mr Bjarni JÓNSSON, Iceland, UEL ; Mr George KATROUGALOS, Greece, UEL ; Ms Yevheniia KRAVCHUK, Ukraine, ALDE ; Ms Stephanie KRISPER, Austria, ALDE ; Mr Oleksandr MEREZHKO, Ukraine, EC/DA ; Mr Bob van PAREREN, Netherlands, EC/DA ; Mr Virendra SHARMA, United Kingdom, SOC ; Ms Jódís SKÚLADÓTTIR, Iceland, UEL ; Ms Anne STAMBACH-TERRENOIR, France, UEL ; Mr Andreas Sjalg UNNELAND, Norway, UEL ; Mr Emanuelis ZINGERIS, Lithuania, EPP/CD

This written declaration does not reflect the position of the Assembly; only of those members that have signed it. It will not be considered further by the Assembly.

We, the undersigned, declare the following:

For more than two decades, Maksym Butkevych was involved in the organisation of many anti-war, alter-globalisation, anti-fascist protests (including annual actions in memory of Stanislav Markelov and Anastasia Baburova murdered by Russian neo-Nazis), rallies against borders, wars of aggression, dictatorship and authoritarian laws. He was a participant and organiser of demonstrations to support the marginalised, minorities, LGBTQ+ and refugees.

Maksym Butkevych co-founded the human rights center “Social action” and is also a founding member of Hromadske radio, center for human rights ZMINA and No Borders Project which joined other initiatives in establishing the Resource Center for IDPs Coalition since 2014. Before he joined the Ukrainian armed forces in March 2022, he was an avid pacifist.

He was captured by the Russian invaders in late June 2022 as prisoner of war (POW).

On 10 March 2023, a mock court in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian region of Luhansk sentenced POW Maksym Butkevych, to thirteen years in a high-security prison for crimes committed in a place where he couldn't have possibly been.

We show global solidarity with Maksym Butkevych, a case of another dramatic embodiment of the invaders’ lawlessness and we call for his exchange and immediate release.