Date of arrest: 09.11.2016
Charges: llegal possession of weapons and preparation for sabotage committed by an organized group
Court verdict: 5 years in prison
Waiting for him: parents, wife, brother, daughter, and son-in-law
Dmytro's elderly parents no longer know if they will be able to see their son, although they faithfully intend to wait for his return.
Relatives learned about the detention of Dmytro and his wife Olena, when Olena's colleagues called to inform them she had not come to work. Dmytro and Olena's phones were out of reach, so Olena's parents went to their home. As they were approaching it, they saw Dmytro in handcuffs and many people in masks…
At three o'clock in the morning, Olena called and said that she was being taken home from Simferopol. She didn't know where Dmytro was.
In the Simferopol pre-trial detention center, Dmytro lost 30 kg in six months, and doctors were not allowed to visit him. Then there was a sentence - five years in a maximum-security prison and a fine of 200,000 Russian rubles followed by a long transit to Omsk.
During all these years, none of the relatives were allowed to see Dmytro.
In August 2020, Dmytro's relatives received the money transfer, a letter, and their package, which can be sent once every six months. This was how relatives learned that Dmytro was no longer being held in the Omsk prison, which began a long search.
Later, a new lawyer called and told them that Dmytro was in Lefortovo.
When there was almost a year left until the end of the sentence, another accusation against Dmytro Shtyblikov appeared.
Relatives do not know the current state of Dmytro`s condition, since the last time he called them was almost a year ago; no more permission to call was given since.
Dmytro Shtyblikov has chronic pain associated with injuries he suffered during his service in the Armed Forces, when a grenade launcher exploded in his hands. He also has vascular problems and severe varicose veins. Dmytro needs medication to maintain vascular health, but he has not been able to get it for nine months. Also, he has kidney problems and stomach ulcers.
Dmytro's relatives are already losing hope and are not even optimistic about the prisoner exchange, which the Ukrainian authorities plan to hold soon. They dream that not just a few people will be chosen for liberation, as happened before, but of a full-scale exchange of "all for all.” They are convinced that Ukrainians must now fight for each and every person on the list of political prisoners.
