Stanislav Aseyev

Stanislav Aseyev (Ukrainian: Станіслав Асєєв, romanized: Stanislav Asieiev, also Stanyslav Asieiev; born October 1, 1989) is a Ukrainian writer and journalist, human rights activist, founder Justice Initiative Fund.[2] His best known work is the novel The Torture Camp on Paradise Street (2020). 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 Ministry of State Security of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) confirmed that he was kidnapped by militants from the DNR.[3][4][5]

Stanislav Aseyev with American Senators at the Radio Liberty office in Prague
Stanislav Aseyev
Born (1989-10-01) 1 October 1989[1]
Donetsk, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union
Pen nameStanislav Vasin
OccupationNovelist, journalist
NationalityUkrainian
Notable worksThe Torture Camp on Paradise Street
Notable awardsFree Media Awards

National Freedom of Expression Award 2020

Shevchenko National Prize

Dianna Ortiz Award for Courage 2023

NNW International Film Festival Award "The Door to Freedom"

Despite huge international support Aseyev was sentenced for 15 years[6] 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.[7]

Biography

Aseyev was born in Donetsk in 1989. In 2006 he graduated from secondary school in the town of Makiivka and started courses at the Institute of Informatics and Artificial Intelligence of Donetsk National Technical University. There he earned a master's degree in Religious Studies with Honors in 2012.

His philosophical interests included 20th-century French and German ontology.

According to a biography published in Yunost magazine, after attending the university, Aseyev travelled to Paris, where he applied for service in the French Foreign Legion, then came back to Ukraine and tried many professions such as loader, intern at a bank, grave digger, operator in a mailing company, and shop assistant.[8]

Francis Fukuyama with Stanislav Asieiev in Munich

Journalism in Donetsk

Aseyev had stayed in Donetsk after it was captured by pro-Russian militants in 2014. He described the war in Donbass and his life under occupation in his novel and journalistic reports.

Aseyev used the pseudonym Stanislav Vasin to report from territories occupied by the Russian military and pro-Russian militants. He used the pseudonym due to widespread persecutions by the Ministry of State Security and different militants’ groups of the self-proclaimed DPR. Aseyev's position wasn't clearly pro-Ukrainian (he was often accused by commentators of "a lack of patriotism" or "immaturity of political views"). His reports exposing crimes in the DPR consisted of reports of war crimes of the Republic's militants, Russian activities in Donbass, and pro-Ukrainian resistance.

Stanislav Asieiev at the Munich Security Conference

In 2015 his reports were published by Ukrayinska Pravda. Between 2016 and 2017 he was a correspondent of the Mirror Weekly, a notable Ukrainian newspaper where he published 14 articles. Also in 2016 — 2017 he wrote about 50 articles and photo-reports for the US government outlet Radio Liberty.

Kidnapping

Aseyev’s last report was for RFE/RL's project Donbass Realities, sent on June 2, 2017 (disputable if it was really written by him or, maybe, under pressure of kidnappers). His Facebook page was active for a while but probably managed by another person.

Aseyev's mother (living in Makiivka near Donetsk) visited his apartment and saw traces of illegal entry and search.[9]

His fellow student and former MP Yehor Firsov reported Aseyev's disappearance on June 6 accusing Russia-backed militants of kidnapping. Later this was commented on by Security Service of Ukraine, UN Monitoring Mission on Human Rights to Ukraine, Ukraine Journalists Union.[4]

On July 16, 2017, an agent of the DNR's Ministry of State Security confirmed to Aseyev's mother that her son was in their custody and that he was suspected of espionage. Independent media were not allowed to report from the DNR-controlled territory.[5]

In July 2018, Aseyev reportedly began a hunger strike while being imprisoned.[10]

In October 2019 the Supreme Court of the DNR found Aseyev guilty on charges of organizing an extremist group, espionage and incitement to espionage, and public actions aimed at violating territorial integrity of the DNR; he was sentenced to 15 years in prison. An international campaign, #FreeAseyev, for journalist's release was launched. It was supported by authorities, professional communities and human rights activists, active between 2017 and 2019. Last events of the campaign were held a few weeks before his release on November 15, 2019. People gathered on "Empty chair day" in Kyiv,[11] Lviv, Kramatorsk, New York,[12] Rome and London.[13]

Amnesty International, Committee to Protect Journalists, the European Federation of Journalists, Human Rights Watch, the Norwegian Helsinki Committee, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, PEN International, Reporters Without Borders and the United States Mission to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe called for his immediate release.[5][14][15][16][17][18][19] The US Senators Bob Menendez and Marco Rubio have also voiced their support for Aseyev.[20]

Stas Aseyev and his less-known colleague Oleh Halaziuk were released (as part of a controversial[21] prison exchange between the DPR, the Luhansk People's Republic and Ukraine) and handed over to Ukrainian authorities on 29 December 2019.[7]

Political activity

After his release, Aseyev took an active social and political position, dealing with the rights of captives of illegal prisons in Russia and on occupied territories. On January 29, 2020, Aseyev delivered a speech at the Council of Europe in which he asked the member states to put pressure on Russia to release the captives.[22] On February 15, 2020, the journalist spoke at the Munich Security Conference, where he spoke about the inhumane treatment of captives by militants.[23] On February 14, 2020, Aseyev met with a group of US senators at Radio Liberty's Prague office to discuss the release of the remaining captives in the occupied territories of Donetsk region.[24]

Literature

Before his illegal capture and imprisonment, Aseyev published a work of prose—the autobiographical novel The Melchior Elephant, or A Man Who Thought (in Russian). It was published for the first time in Moscow in Yunost magazine (#1 — #6, 2015) and the following year it came out in hardback from the publishing house Kayala (Ukrainian: Каяла) in Kyiv. According to Yunost's editor Yevgeniy Malevich: «his perspective is not a journalist-like, nor a writer-like but he's the young philosopher. In his novel Stanislav turns himself inside out, showing the world of a small town and the war that tore the country in half».[25]

While remaining in his native Donbas region from the beginning of Russia-sponsored hostilities there, Aseyev contributed short dispatches on the situation on the ground to prominent Ukrainian and international media, writing under the pen name of Vasin. A book of collected dispatches entitled In Isolation (in Ukrainian and Russian) appeared while he was still in captivity.

Following his release, Aseyev published an autobiographical work entitled The Torture Camp on Paradise Street (in Ukrainian), describing his time in the illegal prison Izoliatsia and the mistreatment and torture prisoners experienced there at the hands of the Russian-controlled administration.

Aseyev with Christo Grozev

Awards
  • Free Media Awards 2020[26]
  • National Freedom of Expression Award 2020[27]
  • Taras Shevchenko National Prize (Shevchenko Award) 2021[28]
  • Dianna Ortiz Award for Courage 2023 [29]
  • NNW International Film Festival Award "The Door to Freedom" [30]

Works
  • Шестой день: сб. поэм, рассказов и стихов / Станислав Владимирович Асеев. — Донецк: Норд-Пресс, 2011. — 207 с. — ISBN 978-966-380-480-4[31] (in Russian)
  • Андерхилльские ведьмы: драма: в 2 ч. Проза / Станислав Владимирович Асеев. — Донецк: Донбасс, 2011. — 228 с. — ISBN 978-617-638-065-8[31] (in Russian)
  • Мельхиоровый слон, или Человек, который думал: Роман-автобиография / С. Асеев // Юность. — 2015. — No. 1—6.(in Russian)
  • Мельхиоровый слон, или Человек, который думал: роман-автобиография / Станислав Асеев. — Киев : Каяла, 2016. — 267 с. — ISBN 978-617-7390-05-2[31] (in Russian)
  • В ізоляції / Станіслав Асєєв, тексти, фото; передм. Мар'яни Драч, Сергія Рахманіна, Дмитра Крапивенка; ілюстр. Сергія Захарова // К.: Люта справа, 2018. — 208 с. — ISBN 978-617-7420-18-6
  • In Isolation: Dispatches from Occupied Donbas (2022) translated by Lidia Wolanskyj. Cambridge: Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute. ISBN 978-0-674-26878-4
  • Stanislav Aseyev (2020). Svitlyĭ Shli͡akh: istorii͡a odnoho kont͡staboru [Light Path: the history of a concentration camp] (in Russian). Translated by Viktoriia Stakh (1st ed.). Lviv: The Old Lion. ISBN 978-617-679-854-5. OL 43803667M. Wikidata Q107392599.
  • Stanislav Aseyev (2021), The Torture Camp on Paradise Street, translated by Anonymous; Anonymous, Lviv: The Old Lion, Wikidata Q107392497 {{citation}}: |translator1= has generic name (help)
  • The Torture Camp on Paradise Street, (2022) translated by Zenia Tompkins and Nina Murray. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute. ISBN 978-0-674-29107-2 (hardcover)

References
  1. Журналіст Асєєв вже другий день народження відзначає в полоні бойовиків
  2. "Justice Initiative Fund". Archived from the original on 2022-10-01. Retrieved 2022-10-01.
  3. Serhiy, Rahmanin. "The land of Stas" (in Ukrainian). Mirror Weekly. Retrieved June 13, 2017.
  4. "Ukraine Journalists Union Asks OSCE For Help Locating Missing Blogger". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. 12 June 2017. Retrieved June 13, 2017.
  5. "URGENT ACTION: IMPRISONED JOURNALIST MUST BE RELEASED" (PDF) (Press release). Amnesty International. 21 July 2017. Retrieved 10 February 2018.
  6. "Ukrainian Journalist Stanislav Aseev Sentenced to 15 Years in Occupied Donbas". en.hromadske.ua. 22 October 2019. Retrieved 11 January 2020.
  7. Journalist Stanislav Aseev returns to Ukraine within prisoner swap, 112 Ukraine (29 December 2019)
  8. "texts from Yunost magazine on poezia.ru web-site" (in Russian). poezia.ru. Archived from the original on 2017-06-20. Retrieved 2017-06-13.
  9. editorial. Зникнення Станіслава Васіна [Disappearance of Stanislav Vasin] (in Ukrainian). Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Retrieved June 13, 2017.
  10. "Ukrainian Blogger Held By Russia-Backed Separatists Declares Hunger Strike". RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty. 5 July 2018. Retrieved 2018-09-02.
  11. "Solidarity Day #FreeAseyev action on November 15th". imi.org.ua. Institute of Mass Information. 6 November 2019. Retrieved 11 January 2020.
  12. "Empty Chair Day: Day of action to support Stanislav Aseyev". PEN America. 11 November 2019. Retrieved 11 January 2020.
  13. "Sentsov joins campaign in support of Aseyev in London". www.ukrinform.net. Ukrinform. 16 November 2019.
  14. "OSCE Representative calls for immediate release of Donetsk journalist Stanislav Aseev one year after his illegal detention" (Press release). Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. 1 June 2018. Retrieved 3 September 2018.
  15. "The land of Stas". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. 13 December 2018. Retrieved December 13, 2018.
  16. "EFJ calls again for immediate release of Donetsk journalist Stanislav Aseev". European Federation of Journalists. 2018-08-21. Retrieved 2019-10-05.
  17. "Украина: Блогер удерживается про-российскими сепаратистами" (in Russian). Human Rights Watch. 2017-07-18. Retrieved 2018-09-03.
  18. "STANISLAV ASEYEV'S DETENTION APPROACHES TWO-YEAR MARK AMID GLOBAL PLEAS FOR HIS RELEASE". PEN America. 2019-05-31. Retrieved 2019-10-05.
  19. "US at OSCE urges to release Stanislav Aseyev and other imprisoned Ukrainians". Ukrinform. 2019-10-04. Retrieved 2019-10-05.
  20. "Where Are..." Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. 2019-09-30. Retrieved 2019-10-05.
  21. ZORIA, YURI (29 December 2019). "Ukraine swaps 127 prisoners including defendants of Maidan massacre to 76 Ukrainians held in occupied Donbas ·". Euromaidan Press. Retrieved 11 January 2020.
  22. "Асєєв у Раді Європи попросив натиснути на Москву". www.ukrinform.ua (in Ukrainian). 30 January 2020. Retrieved 2020-10-28.
  23. "4th Ukrainian Lunch "Ukraine – Moving Ahead" on the Margins of the Munich Security Conference (Live)". YouTube.
  24. Свобода, Радіо (14 February 2020). "Асєєв попросив сенаторів США сприяти звільненню решти ув'язнених на окупованому Донбасі". Радіо Свобода (in Ukrainian). Retrieved 2020-10-28.
  25. Malevich, Yevgeniy. "Yunost's editor met the students of the Gomel State University" (in Russian). Правда Гомель.
  26. "Stanislav Aseyev - Ukraina". Fritt Ord (in Norwegian Bokmål). Retrieved 2020-10-05.
  27. "Донецький журналіст Асєєв - лауреат Національної премії за захист свободи слова". Ukrinform (in Ukrainian). 11 March 2020.
  28. Морі, Євгеній (2021-03-09). "Шевченківська премія-2021: стали відомі імена переможців". Суспільне | Новини (in Ukrainian).
  29. https://suspilne.media/485410-stanislav-aseev-otrimav-premiu-za-zahist-prav-ludini-v-ukraini-ta-za-ii-mezami/?fbclid=IwAR3mquBP8C7IzOSQqVHp3A9UUTRJTludd1P7iOQqjQK4pVt3seandZGiyi4
  30. https://twitter.com/AseyevStanislav/status/1696835029932851662?s=20
  31. "Національна бібліотека України імені В. І. Вернадського. Пошук за автором". Національна бібліотека України імені В. І. Вернадського.
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