Yevhen Panov is sentenced to eight years behind the bars for the alleged 'preparation of sabotage acts' in the occupied Crimea

Lyudmyla Denisova, the Ukrainian Parliamentary Envoy for Human Rights turned to her Russian counterpart Tatyana Moskalkova and Director of the Russian Federal Penitentiary Service Gennadiy Korniyenko. She asks them to report on the current whereabouts of Yevhen Panov, the political prisoner who is now behind the bars in Russia.

'Yesterday, Vira Kotelaynets, the mother of Ukrainian political prisoner Yevhen Panov (...) turned to me. Yevhen has been transferred from one remand centre to another for a while, and his mother is worried there's no contact with him', Denisova posted on Facebook.

Earlier, a 'prosecutor' of the Crimea Supreme Court, which is currently under the control of the Russian Federation, requested 10.5 years in prison for Ukrainian political prisoner Yevhen Panov.

In August 2016, The Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation claimed to have detained Ukrainian saboteurs in Crimea. Russia says that Ukrainian diversionary group planned terrorist acts in the occupied Crimea, and Yevhen Panov, born in 1977, residing in Zaporizhia region, an officer of the Chief Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine, was allegedly the leader of the group.

Later Russian authorities released a video with Panov’s confession, however, Ukrainian human rights defenders stated that the video showed the signs of testifying under duress.