MOSCOW, June 10 (RIA Novosti) – Russia’s Zvezda TV channel journalists said they had nowhere to sleep, were not allowed to talk, and there were constant threats during their detention in Ukraine’s eastern city of Slaviansk.
“There was one solitary cell, they would change us from time to time, and in one of the cells there were seven people. There was nowhere to sleep, we had to sit and sometimes lie on the floor,” Zvezda’s cameraman Andrei Sushenkov said Tuesday at a press conference in Moscow.
Sound technician Anton Malyshev said that all communication was based on threats. “Beatings followed threats, to back those threats up and show the power of these people. They were constantly threatening us with five years in prison, since we violated at least three laws, then four, then five laws. Different reasons and different laws were cited by the guys who were interrogating us,” said the journalist.
According to Andrei Sushenkov, there were also “local residents in the cell, detained for various reasons.
“I overheard that one man was detained for helping the self-defense forces digging trenches. Another man wanted to leave besieged Slaviansk, but was stopped at the checkpoint and detained for further investigation,” the journalist said.
It was forbidden to talk in the cell, there was always a guard present and “for every infraction they closed the only window that allowed us to breathe. So we kept silent,” he added. Sushenkov noted that the temperature inside the cell was 'like in a sauna – 45 to 50 degrees Celsius.'”
Journalists from the Russian Ministry of Defense-sponsored Zvezda TV channel disappeared after they were searched by the Ukraine’s National Guard on the outskirts of Slaviansk. The cameraman and the sound technician working near Slaviansk had not been in touch with the station since Friday afternoon.
The journalists were on their way to cover Ukrainian President Petro Poroshensko’s inauguration. They were detained at the security forces’ checkpoint on the suspicion of spying. The journalists were transferred to Ukraine’s Security Service. Their passports were taken away and they were kept in a crowded and stuffy room for two days. On Monday night, the journalists were released and handed over to the Russian side.
The Russian Foreign Ministry has condemned the actions of the Ukrainian authorities against journalists, especially from Russia.
