Kolchenko, Alexander Alexandrovich

Born November 26, 1989 in Simferopol in a working class family ^{[3] [4]} . He graduated from school in Simferopol.

He studied at the Simferopol School of Service and Tourism as a tourism manager. Then he was a student of the Taurida National University named after V.I. Vernadsky . In parallel with his studies, he worked in the Nova Poshta delivery service as a loader, and until March 20, 2014 he worked in online printing ^{[3] [4] [5]} .

According to the Autonomous Action organization, Kolchenko is a supporter of anarchism , anti-fascism and internationalism and is known by the nickname "Tundra" ^[3] . He participated in supporting Crimetrolleybus employees who defended their rights and held campaigns in Crimea in memory of Anastasia Baburova and Ivan Khutorsky . Also, while studying at the university, he participated in campaigns against paid education and for the autonomy of universities, was an active member of the Student Action trade union ^[6] . January 19, 2012, when Kolchenko and his comrades, after the film screening of the film about Baburova, were traveling in an electric train, they were attacked by 30 nationalists who used knives ^[3] .

In February 2014, he participated in an environmental campaign against the construction of a large port in Western Crimea by entrepreneurs from China ^[7] .

Arrest

May 16, 2014 was detained by officers of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation in the center of Simferopol ^[8] . After some time, Kolchenko was transferred to Moscow , to the remand prison in Lefortovo ^[9] .

Amnesty International called his arrest illegal ^[10] . May 23 in Kiev , Odessa and Lviv , protests took place at the Russian embassy and consulates demanding the release of Alexander Kolchenko, director Oleg Sentsov and other detained activists ^[8] .

On May 30, the FSB announced the detention of Kolchenko along with three more people, including historian Alexei Chirniy. According to the FSB, they are all members of the Right Sector . However, in the "Right Sector" itself they denied the information that Kolchenko is a member of their organization ^[11] ; Kolchenko himself pointed to the incompatibility of his left and anti-fascist beliefs with membership in an ultra-right organization ^[12] . Their main goal, according to the FSB, was to commit sabotage and terrorist acts in Simferopol, Sevastopol and Yalta , in particular, explosions on the night of May 8 to 9, 2014 improvised explosive devices near the “Eternal Flame Memorial” and the monument to Vladimir Lenin in Simferopol, as well as arson of the offices of the public organization “ Russian Community of Crimea ” and the representative office of the United Russia party (the former office of the Party of Regions ) in Simferopol on April 14 and 18, 2014 ^[13] .

Memorial , the international historical, educational, human rights and charitable society, emphasizes that “the investigation ignores the content of the conversations of Chirniy and Pirogov, from which it follows that Chirniy decided to break off relations with the people with whom he set fire to begin the bombing” ^[14] .

Kolchenko himself calls the arson of the door of the office of the ruling party a symbolic gesture of protest, rather than an attempt to “frighten the population of Crimea,” and emphasizes that there was no one in the building at midnight. “I was against the war, against violence. My actions are directed against the party "United Russia", which voted for the introduction of troops " ^[15] . After the dispersal of the rally of workers at the Krymtrolleybus enterprise by armed people, Kolchenko came to the conclusion that the legal methods of struggle had exhausted themselves ^[16] . He decided to take part in the arson of the office of United Russia, because he could not “express his position in a different way against the deployment of troops and the violation of the rights of citizens in Crimea,” and the party “United Russia” “was associated with the government of the Russian Federation”. “My goal was to inflict symbolic property damage on the party,” explained Kolchenko ^[17] .

Public and international criminal response

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine demanded the release of Alexander Kolchenko and other citizens of Ukraine ^[18] . On June 2, the Russian Socialist Movement ^[7] came out in its defense, and later the Russian anarchist movement Autonomous Action ^[3] . On June 5, an action in support of Kolchenko and other detained activists took place at the Russian embassy in Germany in Berlin ^[19] .

In early July 2015, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly adopted a resolution in which, in particular, it demanded that Russia “immediately release and return to Ukraine the detained pilot and member of the Verkhovna Rada Nadezhda Savchenko, film director Oleg Sentsov, Alexander Kolchenko and all other illegally detained Ukrainian citizens” ^[20] .

On August 25, 2015, the North Caucasian District Military Court sentenced Kolchenko to 10 years in prison in a maximum security penal colony ^[21] .

On September 25, 2015, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko awarded Kolchenko and Sentsov the Order “For Courage”, I degree ^[22] .

In December 2015, as part of the Amnesty International campaign , Russian musician Boris Grebenshchikov signed a letter to the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation urging the Ukrainian activists Alexander Kolchenko, Oleg Sentsov and Gennady Afanasyev to cancel the sentences ^[23] .

In April 2017, Kolchenko was reinstated as a student at Taurida National University in Kiev ^[24] .

In June 2018, the Sejm of the Republic of Poland adopted a resolution calling on the Russian Federation to release Ukrainian political prisoners, including Oleg Sentsov and Alexander Kolchenko. ^{[25] [26]}

• Committee of solidarity with Crimean political prisoners