News regarding Yevgeny Vitishko: Release postponed

On 10 November a court ordered the release of Yevgeny Vitishko, effective on the morning of 21 November, after having served half of his sentence in a prison colony in Russia’s Tambov region.

On 20 November, when Yevgeny Vitishko's friends and colleagues were already on their way to the penal colony, they received a call from Vitishko telling them that the prosecutor's office brought in a last minute appeal. Fortunately, the prosecutor's office is not appealing against Vitishko's release as such but is seeking clarification regarding «where Vitishko is going to be registered on release.»

Yevgeny Vitishko's lawyers explained that it might take the upper court up to 30 days to consider this appeal but that it most probably could be dealt with within a week or so. Also, on 3 December another court will be looking into Vitishko's application for parole so the appeal court might link both hearings.

Yevgeny Vitishko’s friends believe this last minute appeal could be in connection with his planned appearance at a Civic Forum conference in Moscow on 22 November. The prosecutor's appeal came right after the official announcement of Yevgeny Vitishko's participation in the conference.

The team will continue monitoring the situation and sharing updates as the situation evolves.