Dmitry Kiselev, the director general of Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency, told Sputnik on Wednesday that hospitalized head of the RIA Novosti Ukraine portal Kirill Vyshinsky was a prisoner of conscience.
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 05th September, 2018) Dmitry Kiselev, the director general of Rossiya Segodnya International Information Agency, told Sputnik on Wednesday that hospitalized head of the RIA Novosti Ukraine portal Kirill Vyshinsky was a prisoner of conscience.
Vyshinsky's lawyer said earlier in the day that a court in Ukraine's Kherson accepted the request to provide him with urgent medical treatment due to sudden deterioration of the journalists's health. Vyshinsky was sent to hospital straight from the court chamber.
"Our friend and colleague Kirill Vyshinsky is a typical prisoner of conscience. They let him rot in prison only because of his beliefs and professional activities," Kiselev said.
August 24 marked 100 days since Vyshinsky was arrested in Ukraine on suspicion of treason and of allegedly supporting the self-proclaimed people's republics of Donetsk and Luhansk in Donbas.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Vyshinsky's arrest was politically motivated and demonstrated an unprecedented and unacceptable policy of Ukrainian authorities targeting journalists who were doing their jobs.
Harlem Desir, the OSCE representative on freedom of the media, has also expressed his concern over Ukraine's actions toward Vyshinsky, stressing that, under the Helsinki Final Act, the OSCE states "have committed to facilitating the conditions under which journalists from one participating State exercise their profession in another participating State."
