They survived over seven years of Russian captivity: stories of three doctors from Donetsk freed on 14 August – photos

Ihor Kirianenko, Ihor Nazarenko, Yurii Shapovalov. Photo: Iryna Vereshchuk on Telegram

Three doctors who had endured Russian sham trials and more than seven years of captivity have been brought back to territory controlled by Ukraine as part of a prisoner exchange on 14 August. Along with 48 other civilians, medics Ihor Kirianenko, Ihor Nazarenko, and Yurii Shapovalov have been released from captivity.

Source: Iryna Vereshchuk, Deputy Head of the President’s Office

Details: Doctor and businessman Ihor Kirianenko was detained in the temporarily occupied city of Donetsk in 2018, when he was 61 years old. He was unable to leave for territory controlled by Ukraine because he was caring for his paralysed mother and disabled younger brother.

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Dmytro Lubinets, Ukrainian Parliamentary Human Rights Commissioner, said that at first, Ihor Kirianenko was held in Makiivka Strict Regime Penal Colony No. 32.

In 2020, the local occupation administration charged Ihor with a political offence for his pro-Ukraine views and sentenced him to 12 years’ imprisonment.

During his unlawful detention, the doctor suffered a heart attack and a stroke, and lost all his teeth. Later, he was transferred to the Donetsk pre-trial detention centre, to a basement facility where tuberculosis patients had been held for years.

Lubinets stressed that after the heart attack, Ihor began fainting, lost weight, developed cyanosis (bluish-purple discolouration of the skin) of his limbs and severe swelling, and the loss of his teeth led to a pronounced deformation of the lower jaw.

In captivity, Ihor’s chronic illnesses also worsened, including a tumour of the pancreas, diabetes, severe heart pain, and leg pain from an injury sustained during an artillery strike.

Ihor Nazarenko

Photo: former Human Rights Commissioner Liudmyla Denisova on Facebook

Another person released from captivity is surgeon Ihor Nazarenko from Donetsk, whom the Russians abducted from his workplace in 2017.

As former Human Rights Commissioner Liudmyla Denisova recounted, he was accused of “terrorism”, tortured, and then sentenced to 11 years in a penal colony on fabricated charges.

Nazarenko was held in Makiivka Penal Colony No. 32 in unsanitary conditions and without heating, yet he still tried to provide medical assistance to his fellow inmates.

Yurii Shapovalov

Photo: former Human Rights Commissioner Liudmyla Denisova…