Halya Coynash: Russia reduces sentence of ‘top secret’ Ukrainian political prisoner

Russia’s Supreme Court has reduced the sentence passed on 32-year-old Ukrainian Kostyantin Davydenko from 10.5 to 7 years, after a hearing held behind closed doors. The only new detail in a case shrouded in secrecy is the Russian state media’s assertion that Davydenko “admitted guilt and repented of his actions”. That might explain why his sentence was reduced (to lower than the 10-year minimum for ‘spying’) while the brutal 14-year sentences of two recognized political prisoners Volodymyr Dudka and Oleksiy Bessarabov were upheld, however even this is only speculation. The FSB had earlier released videos showing the confessions’ of all three men while they were held incommunicado and without independent lawyers, however, Dudka and Bessarabov retracted theirs as soon as they were finally allowed to see lawyers, and continued to reject the charges. Davydenko’s case was so secret that it is unclear whether he even had a lawyer before the initial ‘trial’. It is known, however, that his ‘trial’ in Russian-occupied Crimea, was held over seven hearings which would seem to suggest that he had later retracted the initial confession. He was represented in the Supreme Court by well-known lawyer, Dmitry Dinze, who informed only that Davydenko has been included among the Kremlin hostages on the exchange list.

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