Reporters Without Borders found a Ukrainian blogger in Russian captivity, tortured and enslaved

Yevhen Ilchenko was captured in Melitopol in July 2022 and accused of “terrorism”. The man was a lawyer, but in May 2022, he created a Telegram channel, @Mitopol, where he posted about the Russian occupation of Melitopol. According to Reporters Without Borders (RSF), four Russian soldiers came after Ilchenko to his home two hours after his latest post which contained images of long queues for obtaining administrative documents. 

Ilchenko was not at home when the soldiers arrived. They reportedly stole his documents and jewellery and arrested the man on his return. From his first detention facility, Ilchenko had managed to send messages to a relative about what had been happening to him. He had described prisoners being regularly electrocuted and subjected to mock executions. “I didn’t crack, but not everyone is as strong,” RSF quoted one of the man’s messages.

From September 2022, Yevhen Ilchenko was forced to dig trenches and clean weapons for several months.

“Captured, tortured and then enslaved… This is the first time, in nearly forty years of defending journalism, that RSF has documented a journalist, blogger or whistleblower subject to total slavery and forced to participate in a war effort against their own country. Because this man chose to keep the public informed, he has not only been held captive for two years but forced into hard labour. We have gone from arbitrariness to barbarism. Yevhenii Ilchenko must immediately be released,” commented Arnaud Froger, head of the RSF Investigation Desk. 

The current whereabouts of Ilchenko are unknown. One RSF source suggested that he may be in a detention facility in Russian Taganrog. 

RSF noted that over 100 Melitopol citizens are held captive by Russia, according to the local (exiled) Ukrainian authorities. Forced labour in Russian captivity is not uncommon. Some civilians have been forced to clear mines, RSF noted. 

Reporters Without Borders is investigating the destinies of Ukrainian journalists who disappeared in the Russian-occupied territories. The organisation stated that “no fewer than 13 Ukrainian journalists have been arbitrarily arrested by Russian forces and are currently detained in either the occupied territories of Ukraine or in the Russian Federation.”