On July 19, 2022, in the court of the city of Kolomyia (Ivano-Frankivsk region, western Ukraine), a regular court hearing in the case of journalist Ruslan Kotsaba will be held.

On February 7, 2015, the journalist was arrested by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) for publishing a video on the Internet, where he called the events taking place in the Donbas a civil war and called on Ukrainians to refuse to mobilize into the armed forces of Ukraine.

The SBU accused the journalist of "high treason" (Article 111 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine) and of "opposing the Ukrainian army" (Article 114-1).

The Ukrainian prosecutor's office demanded that the court sentence Kotsaba to 13 years in prison.

On February 11, 2015, the international human rights organization Amnesty International called Ruslan Kotsaba a prisoner of conscience.

On June 16, 2016, the Ivano-Frankivsk Region Court of Appeal acquitted Ruslan Kotsaba of all charges and released him in the courtroom.

In total, the journalist spent 524 days in the pre-trial detention center.

However, on June 1, 2017, the Supreme Court of Ukraine overturned the acquittal and now the case of Ruslan Kotsaba on charges of "high treason" and "opposing the army" is being heard in the district court of the city of Kolomyia, Ivano-Frankivsk region (western Ukraine).

Court hearings in the district court are taking so long because the witnesses for the prosecution (more than 50 representatives of ultra-right formations) do not appear in court.

The prosecutor's office also demanded that the journalist's lawyer Tatyana Montyan be removed from participation in court hearings, since she has a different view of the events in Ukraine from the Kyiv authorities.

Now Montyan is in the Russian Federation and the interests of Ruslan Kotsaba will be represented in court by lawyer Svetlana Novitskaya.

It is quite possible that during martial law, the Kyiv authorities can turn the Kotsaba case into a demonstrative reprisal in order to raise the degree of militaristic "patriotic" hysteria in Ukrainian society and pass a harsh sentence on a dissident journalist.

Now all courts in Ukraine are under the control of the Zelensky administration and, starting from February 24, 2022, we have not recorded a single court decision that would contradict the requirements of the authorities.

Therefore, unfortunately, we can expect a quick and wrong sentence, and the re-arrest of Ruslan Kotsaba.

But on the other hand, Ruslan says that the wrong sentence will draw the attention of the world community to the destruction of democracy and the rule of law in Ukraine.

“Given the atmosphere of the court, communication with the panel of judges and with the prosecutor, I am sure that the trial against me can be turned into a condemnation of the pacifist movement and all peace-loving Ukrainians tired of the war.

After all, the war directly affected many people and their families, people are beginning to understand what I said 8 years ago: that it is necessary to negotiate and implement the Minsk agreements.

In my example, if I am sentenced to a long term of imprisonment for alleged treason and opposition to the army, they may try to intimidate other people.

But you will not frighten peaceful Ukrainians, and we will defend our right to peace and conscientious objection to military service.

In addition, such a scandal to the whole world can give thought to many people who support the militant government of Ukraine and believe that President Zelensky is supposedly a just and democratic hero, and in vain hope to conquer the world with weapons ...

This is impossible in principle, because violence breeds violence.

We need a ceasefire, peaceful negotiations and building a non-violent society," Ruslan Kotsaba was quoted by the Telegram channel of the Ukrainian Pacifist Movement: https://t.me/ukr_pacific/6467.