Anastasia Hloukhovska, a journalist from Melitopol, was abducted by the FSB on August 20, 2023. She is now believed to be in Kizel Prison No. 3, more than 2,700 km from her home, which former prisoners have described as a torture camp. This open letter calls on Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot and EU High Representative Kaja Kallas to intervene with Moscow for the immediate release of Anastasia and her 48 fellow journalists.

Alarming reports have reached us concerning the situation of Ukrainian journalist Anastasia Hloukhovska, originally from Melitopol, a Ukrainian city occupied by Russia since 2022. For over two years, we have had no news of her. She is being held by Russia in an unknown location, without charges or even confirmation of her imprisonment by the Kremlin. She has been drawn into the Russian prison system. Her colleagues and family are searching for her tirelessly.

On August 20, 2023, agents of the Russian FSB raided her apartment, seized all her documents, computers, and phone, and took her to an unknown location. She was one of seven journalists and media professionals working for local Telegram channels, RIA-Melitopol and Melitopol is Ukraine, who were arrested that day by Russian occupation forces in Melitopol. All remain in detention.

Since then, the authorities of the Russian Federation have been holding Anastasia Hlukhovska prisoner. A recent investigation by the Ukrainian investigative media outlet Slidstvo.info reveals that after being detained in Melitopol, she was imprisoned in Taganrog Prison , infamous for having been transformed into a torture center for thousands of Ukrainian prisoners. She is currently believed to be in the notorious Kizel No. 3 Prison in the Perm Territory of Russia, more than 2,700 km from Melitopol.

It is in this facility that the mayor of Dnipro-Rudny, Yevhen Matveyev, is being held, and where another Ukrainian journalist, Viktoria Roshchyna, was allegedly tortured and murdered in September 2024, after also being imprisoned in Taganrog. Former prisoner of war Yevhen Sholudko confirms Hlukhovska's presence in Kizel prison, described by former Ukrainian prisoners as a "torture camp."

We are deeply concerned about the dire situation of this journalist, who is being subjected to multiple forms of abuse and deprivation. Reporters Without Borders has repeatedly contacted the Russian authorities, the Russian Ministry of Defense, the Russian Federal Penal Service, and the Kizel prison authorities to obtain information about Anastasia and her fellow detainees. To date, we have received no response.

Amidst an ocean of arbitrary detentions, documented systematic torture, mass deportations of children, and summary executions of civilians and military personnel, Anastasia Hlukhovska stands out, among thousands of sadly anonymous victims, as one of the symbols of the oppression and unprecedented violence suffered by the Ukrainian people. Twenty-six Ukrainian journalists languish in Kremlin prisons , some for nearly ten years. They must be released.

Let us not allow silence or complicity to engulf Anastasia's name, just as they have the names of the 25 other Ukrainian reporters and 23 Russian journalists detained by Russia. Today, our only hope of seeing Anastasia alive again rests on the intervention of the Minister of Foreign Affairs [Jean-Noël Barrot] and the High Representative of the European Union [Kaja Kallas] with Moscow , to secure the immediate release of Anastasia and the 48 other journalists currently held in Russian prisons.

Signatories

Opinion piece submitted by:

Galia Ackerman, historian, editor-in-chief of Desk Russia

Thibaut Bruttin , Director General of Reporters Without Borders (RSF)

Ricardo Gutierrez , Secretary General of the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ)

Nikolay Koblyakov , president of the Russia-Liberties association

André Lange , co-founder and coordinator of the Diderot Committee

Nathalie Loiseau , Member of the European Parliament

Claude Malhuret , Senator for Allier

Olessandra Matviichuk, director of the NGO Centre for Civil Liberties, 2022 Nobel Peace Prize laureate

Oxana Melnychuk , president of the United for Ukraine association

Natalia Pouzyreff, president of the France-Russia friendship group in the National Assembly

Pierre Raiman , vice-president and co-founder of the association For Ukraine, for their freedom and ours!

Nadia Sollogoub , Senator for Nièvre, President of the France-Ukraine Friendship Group of the Senate

Brigitte Stora