jimbabwe One hundred fifty human rights and environmental NGOs from all over the world petition the Russian authorities to free Evgeny Vitishko immediately.
On 15 April 2015, the Kirsanovsky District Court in Tambov Region rejected Evgeny Vitishko’s request for parole. The official grounds for this denial was based on a number of reprimands that Vitishko received while at the colony. However, some of those ‘violations’ did not happen; others are far-fetched.
Because of the unjust sentence that Evgeny Vitishko is serving for his environmental and human rights work and in response to the ongoing governmental pressure on Vitishko, 150 environmental and human rights NGOs from all over the world are appealing to the Russian Prosecutor General and Federal Service on Execution of Punishment to take measures to immediately release Evgeny Vitishko and to stop all harassment of him by colony officials. Supporting organizations include Bellona Russia, Friends of the Earth, Human Rights Watch, World Wildlife Fund Russia, the Moscow Helsinki Group, and the Russian Union of Journalists.
As Russian Supreme Court rejected Vitishko’s appeal regarding his custodial sentence, parole remains the only hope for his release and is being pushed forward by Vitishko’s defense team.