"Having reviewed the petition for clemency of V.I. Didenko, the proposals of Pardons Commission, and other circumstances, in accordance with paragraph 27 of Article 106 of the Constitution of Ukraine, I decree to pardon: Didenko Vitaliy Ihorovych, born 1988, who was convicted by a verdict of the Suvorovskyy district court in Odesa on 7 September 2015; to release [him] from further serving of principal sentence," the document says. It is noted that the decree comes into force from the date of its signing.
As UNIAN reported earlier, two Ukrainian citizens - Yuriy Soloshenko and Hennadiy Afanasyev, who had been illegally convicted in Russia, were exchanged for two journalists from Odesa - Olena Hlyshchynska and Vitaliy Didenko, both detained last year on suspicion of separatism.
According to media reports, Didenko was the editor in chief of the Info Center website, belonging to separatist Anton Davydchenko. During the arrest, Didenko tried to escape from the SBU by jumping from the third floor, thus suffering several fractures. He was sentenced to three years of imprisonment.
The director of the Novaya Volna TV company, Olena Hlyshchynska (Romanova), was arrested by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) in April 2015. She gave birth to a boy while in prison, 1.5 months ago. She also has two other children, who are minors.