Russian occupation authorities sentence Crimean artist to 15 years in prison for using blue and yellow paint

Russian occupation authorities have sentenced Crimean artist Bohdan Ziza to 15 years in an "ordinary regime penal colony".

Source: Graty, a Ukrainian media project focusing on judicial system, law enforcement agencies and detention centres, on Telegram

Quote: "The Russian military court in Rostov-on-Don has sentenced Crimean artist-activist Bohdan Ziza to 15 years in an ordinary regime colony. He will have to spend the first four years in prison."

Details: Late on 16 May 2022, Ziza poured blue and yellow paint – the colours of the Ukrainian flag – over the doors to the building housing the Russian occupation administration in Yevpatoriia, Crimea, before attempting to set the doors on fire to protest against the war. He was arrested the following day.

Russian occupation authorities charged Ziza with committing a terrorist act, threatening to commit a terrorist act, and calling for terrorism – the latter for the video address he recorded during the protest.

Ziza admitted to having held an anti-war protest, but stressed that it caused no harm. The prosecutor requested 18 years in prison for the artist.

In his final statement to the court, Ziza talked about the need to speak out against the war, and the dangers of silence.

Following that, on 10 June, he went on a hunger strike, demanding that he be stripped of his Russian citizenship and that all Ukrainian political prisoners be released from Russian prisons.

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