The occupation “Feodosiya City Court” sentenced two local residents: Roman Melnychuk and Vladyslav Hromovyi to 16 and 10 years in the maximum security regime penal colony allegedly for attempted assassination of pro-Russian “blogger” Aleksandr Talipov.
According to the occupation “investigative committee”, as filed in the case, in 2023, the Ukrainian special agencies allegedly recruited Roman Melnychuk, a resident of Feodosiya, as their agent. As a test, he is said to have set fire to one of the cars with the “SVO” symbol on the night of February 22, 2023. After that, he was allegedly instructed to assassinate Talipov.
After the completion of this assignment Melnychuk is said to be paid RUR 1,000,000. The Feodosiya resident is said to have involved another local resident – Vladyslav Hromovyi.
“The first assassination attempt failed because the remote explosive device malfunctioned. In July 2023, as a result of a repeated attempt, a bomb exploded in the courtyard of an apartment building. Talipov was not injured, but three women were injured. During the searches, weapons and explosives as well as mobile phones containing correspondence with curators from the Ukrainian special agencies were seized from Melnychuk and Hromovyi,” the occupiers reported.
The CHRG keeps on documenting criminal and administrative cases against Crimeans initiated due to posts of Aleksandr Talipov, a pro-Russian “blogger”, the founder and coordinator of the Internet community called “Crimean SMERSH”. Members of the community persecute those who do not support the Russian government and the war against Ukraine, publish personal data of such people, incite hatred to them, call for persecuting them, and make reports to the RF FSB and MIA.
Human rights activists point out that the activities of this “blogger” outstep the usual dissemination of hateful messages, because, in addition to inciting enmity on social networks, he also publicly acknowledges his collaboration with the FSB of Crimea. According to analysts of the Crimean Human Rights Group, Talipov’s activities can be considered as direct complicity in the persecution of residents of the occupied territories for their public pro-Ukrainian position.
