“To be free is the essence of a human.” First address by Butkevych after liberation from captivity.

The Ukrainian journalist, human rights defender, and serviceman of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Maksym Butkevych, on October 21 created his first video address after being freed from Russian captivity. He urges not to forget about Ukrainians still held by the Russian Federation. The address was reported by the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union and the Ukrainian office of the human rights organization Amnesty International Ukraine. 

Butkevych posted his video on the night of October 21 on a temporary Facebook page. He intends to make his address also in English and French for an international audience.

Butkevych thanked the people who supported him during his Time in Russian captivity. He says that only now, having returned to Ukraine, he begins to understand the scale of the support and is "a little stunned".

"To be free is to be happy, and it is the most natural state for a human, the essence of a human. Therefore, attempts to oppress and enslave people, to reduce them to the role of goods, objects of manipulation, are a disgrace and a crime of catastrophic dimensions," said Maksym Butkevych.

He called on everyone who followed his fate not to forget "about the oppressed and imprisoned, those who are in danger and whose dignity is constantly tested".

"Let’s do everything we can to liberate them. Because as long as someone remains a captive, none of us are truly free," he appealed.

"I want to express unutterable gratitude to everyone who supported me during captivity and awaited my return and release"Maksym Butkevych, a human rights defender and serviceman who was liberated from Russian captivity on October 18, recorded a video appeal. pic.twitter.com/GH7b0TCyUW

— GLAVCOM (@GLAVCOM_UA) October 21, 2024

Let us remind you that in July 2022, it became known that the founder of “Hromadske Radio” and human rights activist Maksym Butkevych was captured by Russian forces in the area of occupied points Zolote and Hirske. Russian propagandists reported Butkevych’s capture back on June 24, publishing a video of his interrogation.

The pseudo-courts of "LPR" and "DPR" sentenced the Ukrainian human rights defender and prisoner of war Maksym Butkevych to 13 years imprisonment in a strict-regime penal colony. 

Additionally, Butkevych was also accused of attempting to murder two people in a generally dangerous way and consciously damaging others’ property in a generally dangerous way.