An exhibition of drawings by Ukrainian journalist Roman Sushchenko, who has illegally been jailed in the Russian Federation, has opened in New York City.
The event is titled "Ink, Onion Shells, and Beetroot Juice: The Art of Political Prisoner Roman Sushchenko," the Ukrainian Mission to the United States said on Twitter on May 29.
Exhibition of paintings “Ink, Onion Shells, and Beetroot Juice: The Art of Political Prisoner Roman Sushchenko” by Roman Sushchenko, a Ukrainian journalist unlawfully jailed in Russia, kicks off in New York. #FreeSushchenkopic.twitter.com/kpJuaHNAlW
— UKR Mission to UN (@UKRinUN) May 28, 2019
The exhibition and auction of the drawings created by Sushchenko are hosted by the Ukrainian Institute of America in New York.
Fifteen enlarged photocopies of the drawings Sushchenko created in prison with all he had – a ballpoint pen, onion skins, beetroot juice, tea, detergent, ketchup – are on display.
Twelve drawings were sold at the auction for a total of $1,250; the raised funds will be transferred to Sushchenko's family.
Read alsoRussian Supreme Court upholds ruling on Sushchenko's 12-year imprisonment
As UNIAN reported earlier, the FSB detained Ukrainian journalist Roman Sushchenko, a correspondent of the Ukrainian Ukrinform news agency, at a Moscow airport upon his arrival on September 30, 2016. He was charged with "espionage," as the Russian authorities insisted he was an "operative" of Ukraine's intelligence service. The court started considering the Sushchenko case on March 27, 2018. On June 4, the Moscow city court sentenced Sushchenko to a 12-year term in a high-security colony. On September 12, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation upheld the ruling, overruling the lawyer's appeal. On November 7, Representative of Ukrainian journalist Roman Sushchenko at the European Court of Human Rights and his lawyer Mark Feygin said Sushchenko had been convoyed to a penal colony in Russia's Kirov region.
