Stanislav Aseev is a well-known Ukrainian journalist and writer. In 2015–2017 he worked in the separatist-controlled Donbas as a correspondent for the newspapers Dzerkalo Tyzhnia and Ukrainska Pravda, Radio Liberty, the weekly magazine Tyzhden, and the independent eastern Ukrainian news agency OstroV. In 2017 he was captured by DNR separatists because of his journalist activity and was imprisoned for 2.5 years. In December 2019 he was released as part of the prisoner exchange between the government of Ukraine and the separatists.
Full Biography
Stanislav Aseyev, Ukrainian novelist and journalist was born in Donetsk, Ukraine, in 1989 and has spent most of his life there. After in 2014 Russia-backed terrorists had occupied the city, he stayed in Donetsk to report on the developments in the region under pen name Stanislav Vasin. In 2015 his reports was published by Ukrayinska Pravda. Between 2016 and 2017 he was a correspondent of Mirror Weekly, a notable Ukrainian newspaper where he published 14 articles. Also in 2016 — 2017 Aseyev create about 50 articles and photo-reports for Radio Liberty.
Finally, Stanislav was kidnapped by militants to be illegally imprisoned for 962 days. His confession in acting as a Ukrainian spy was received from him by force, after numerous tortures. Aseyev was charged with six articles for his publications that were seen by the so-called court as extremism activities.
Aseyev spent a considerable part of his illegal sentence in Donetsk iconic place — in a building of the factory that had been revitalized to serve between 2010 and 2014 as a platform for cultural initiatives called IZOLYATSIA. Since 2014 IZOLYATSIA’s territory of 7 ha. was converted by the militants to a secret prison and military base. Aseyev was among hundreds of other Ukrainians sent to this prison for fabricated cases.
Aseyev was freed as part of a bilateral release of prisoners between Ukraine and Russia in 2019. For his journalistic work in the conflict zone and describing war crimes, Stanislav Aseyev was awarded the Norwegian Free Media Awards 2020, as well as the National Prize for the Defense of Freedom of Expression in Ukraine 2020 and Shevchenko National Prize 2021.
