Nearly four years ago, PEN America gathered with writers, journalists, and human rights defenders outside of the Russian consulate in New York City to speak out against Russia’s unjust detention of Ukrainian journalist Vladyslav Yesypenko.
This time when we gathered again for Yesypenko, he joined us.
On October 31, the journalist visited PEN America’s office in New York. His main message: Continue speaking up for journalists in prison—your solidarity could save their lives.
Yesypenko was released from prison in Russian-occupied Crimea this June after more than four years behind bars for his journalistic work covering everyday stories of Crimean residents. When he received the PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Award in 2022 when he was still behind bars, his family came to New York to share his story and advocate for his release. His wife Kateryna emphasized his strong belief in “telling the stories of those whose lives do not ordinarily make headlines or front pages.”
Yesypenko continues this work with deep commitment, now advocating for the release of other journalists still behind bars and urging people to speak up for them. Talking with PEN America’s staff, he underscored the need to advocate for the freedom of expression of journalists and writers at “all levels”: both demanding accountability for the Russian government’s human rights violations and showing solidarity and empathy with individual writers and journalists at risk.
Yesypenko spoke about the “horrendous conditions” he and other journalists were kept in, living in dark jail cells, and the cruel reality of surviving torture. It is essential, he said, that unjustly jailed writers and journalists know “they are not forgotten.”
Russia is one of the top jailers of journalists and writers in the world. Many of the journalists jailed alongside Yesypenko and who remain in prison are Crimean Tatars.
Since its illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014, followed by the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the Russian government has deepened its assault on free expression and information. In Crimea, the Russian government has tried to erase the Tatars’ culture and language while jailing writers, journalists, and activists.
For his first visit to New York, Yesypenko swam in the ocean at Brighton Beach. He said this was his primary wish because the beach in Crimea is not easy to reach due to the annexation and war. It was a poignant moment in his free time during his visit to the United States.
Yesypenko advocated for the protection of journalists at the United Nations before traveling to Washington D.C. to discuss his story and Truth at a Cost, a documentary about his imprisonment, at a screening co-sponsored by PEN America, the Press Freedom Center at the National Press Club, and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
Today, Yesypenko has returned to his work as a contributor for RFE/RL’s regional news outlet, Crimea.Realities, and as an advocate for his RFE/RL colleagues who remain unjustly imprisoned: Farid Mehralizada (Azerbaijan) and Nika Novak (Russia).
Yesypenko’s commitment is a reminder that freedom of expression is our shared human right. To defend it, we must continue speaking up in solidarity with writers, journalists, and people at risk for their words.
