Lecture:
Stanislav Aseyev On his experience as an imprisoned journalist in Donetsk, Ukraine
Friday November 18, 2022
2:00-4:00 p.m.
SSRB Tea Room
Social Science Research Building
Room 201
Sponsored by:
Department of Slavic Languages & Literatures & CEERES
About the author:
Stanislav Volodymyrovych Aseyev (Ukrainian: Станіслав Володимирович Асєєв) is a Ukrainian writer and journalist, and founder of the Justice Initiative Fund. His best known work is the novel The Melchior Elephant (2016). In May 2014 his native city of Donetsk fell under control of pro-Russian militants and he remained there. During the period of 2015–2017 Aseyev was publishing his reports (writing under the pen name Stanislav Vasin) for Mirror Weekly newspaper and other Ukrainian media, before 2 June 2017, when he disappeared. On 16 July, an agent of the DNR's “Ministry of State Security” confirmed that he was kidnapped by militants from the so-called Donetsk People's Republic. Despite huge international support Aseyev was sentenced for 15 years and spent 962 days in Izolyatsia prison. He was released as part of a prison exchange and handed over to Ukrainian authorities on 29 December 2019.
