OTTAWA – Canadian Members of Parliament and Senators held meetings on November 16-17 with Crimean democracy advocate Hennadii Afanasiev, who serves as a special representative of Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Mr. Afanasiev’s travel and stay in Ottawa was arranged by the Ukrainian Canadian Congress.
On the morning of November 16, MP Borys Wrzesnewskyj, chair of the Canada-Ukraine Parliamentary Friendship Group, arranged an exclusive interview with Mr. Afanasiev and Globe and Mail reporter Michelle Zilio. (The article can be found at: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/activist-urges-ottawa-to-impose-sanctions-on-corrupt-russian-officials/article32881149/.)
Later that day, Mr. Wrzesnewskyj along with the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of National Defense John McKay, a member of Parliament and a representative of Foreign Affairs Minister Stéphane Dion, met with Mr. Afanasiev and Belarussian political dissident Andrei Sannikov. Both men provided their insights into the operation of Vladimir Putin’s authoritarian apparatus in Russia and the extension of this oppression into neighboring countries. They related their personal stories of horrific torture in a judicial system where torturers, prosecutors, judges and state media work as a team. Earlier in the week Mr. Sannikov also provided evidence via videoconference to the House of Commons Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development as it studies Magnitsky-style sanctions for gross human rights abuses as a part of a review of the Freezing Assets of Corrupt Foreign Officials Act and the Special Economic Measures Act.
During the evening, Mr. Wrzesnewskyj hosted a working dinner in honor of Mr. Afanasiev with members and associate members of the Foreign Affairs and International Development Committee (FAAE). The dinner was chaired by FAAE Chair Bob Nault. Also joining the meeting were Ukraine’s Ambassador to Canada Andriy Shevchenko and Ukrainian Canadian Congress Executive Director/CEO Ihor Michalchyshyn.
During the two-hour dinner, Mr. Afanasiev shared the details of his kidnapping, torture by the FSB and imprisonment in Russia. He also answered questions posed to him by FAAE members about additional steps Canada should take to curb the authoritarianism and human rights abuses in Russia, as well what additional policy, political and diplomatic initiatives Canadian MPs should consider in response to Mr. Putin’s invasion and occupation of Ukrainian territory and military annexation of Crimea.
“I would like to thank Mr. Afanasiev for relating his harrowing story of kidnapping, torture and illegal imprisonment by the human rights abusers of the Putin regime. I would especially like to thank Foreign Affairs Committee chair, the honorable Bob Nault, for chairing the working meeting honoring Mr. Afanasiev and my parliamentary colleagues of all parties who attended,” stated Mr. Wrzesnewskyj.
Mr. Afanasiev was born in 1990 in Symferopol, Crimea, and holds a law degree from Tavriya National University. He worked as a professional photographer until he became a political activist in protest of Russia’s invasion of Crimea. Mr. Afanasiev fearlessly voiced his pro-Ukrainian and pro-democracy stances and openly raised the dangers he and other pro-Ukrainian activists faced during the early days of Russia’s occupation of Crimea.
During the annual May 9 Victory Day celebrations, Mr. Afanasiev was detained by Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) and in December 2014 was charged by a Russian court with terrorism and sentenced to seven years in a maximum security prison. He then spent two years in various prisons in Russia, where he endured terrible physical and psychological torture. Mr. Afanasiev was freed in June and returned to his native Ukraine after a government-organized exchange for two Ukrainian nationals charged with separatism.
Now, as a special representative of Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Afanasiev is responsible for helping to free the 42 other Ukrainians illegally imprisoned in Russia. These include Oleh Sentsov and Oleksandr Kolchenko, accused of terrorism alongside Mr. Afanasiev, who remain imprisoned on politically motivated charges by the Putin dictatorship.