Afanasyev and Soloshenko Unexpectedly Transferred to Moscow

Zoya Svetova, a member of the Public Supervisory Commission of Moscow, reported that Hennadiy Afanasyev and Yuriy Soloshenko, two Ukrainians convicted in Russia, have been transferred to Moscow after a request for their extradition to Ukraine was submitted to the Russian Federation, Interfax-Ukraine reports.

"They arrived in Moscow on May 2. Afanasyev was flown in on a plane from Syktyvkar, and Soloshenko was transported by train from Nizhny Novgorod," she said.

According to Svetova, members of her organization visited the Ukrainians in Lefortovo Prison.

"Nobody knows why they were brought there. The officials say Afanasyev and Soloshenko were transferred in accordance with Article 77.1 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation, namely for investigative activities and court hearings," she said.

She also mentioned that "no post-detention proceduresinvestigative activities with the convicts have been carried out so far."

At the same time, Svetova thinks that "it is hardly a coincidence that two Ukrainian prisoners were transferred to Moscow on the same day."

It was reported earlier that Hennadiy Afanasyev, a Ukrainian citizen convicted in the Russian Federation and who is now being held in Russian prison, signed the documents required for his extradition to Ukraine.

Afanasyev and Soloshenko were convicted in Russia as part of the so-called ‘Oleh Sentsov case’. Afanasyev was sentenced to seven years in a penal colony, he is serving his sentence in a colony in the Komi Republic in Russia.

Svitlana Siydorkina, a lawyer of Oleksandr Kolchenko, anotherone more Ukrainian who was convicted as part of this case, earlier suggested that Soloshenko had also signed the documents for extradition.

Source: Ukrayinska Pravda