Oksana Marchenko – a former X-Factor Ukraine TV star – first made an immediate appeal on Wednesday, the day after her husband, a longtime friend of Putin Viktor Medvedchuk, was detained in Kyiv for treason. “President Zelensky, I urge you to take all necessary steps to secure the immediate release of my husband,” she said, speaking directly to the camera on her YouTube appeal. “There is no doubt that my husband is being prosecuted for political reasons, contrary to the laws of Ukraine and international law,” he told the 67-year-old oligarch and former leader of the pro-Russian opposition party. On Friday, she made new appeals during a press conference in Moscow, insisting that her husband was a “political prisoner”. “I have no doubt that my husband was beaten within hours of his arrest,” Marchenko told a news conference, without giving any evidence. Oksana Marchenko with her husband, Viktor Medvedchuk. @ Oksana.marchenko.tv “I call for help to stop the physical and mental torture,” he said. She said she “unfortunately” had not heard from Zelensky – and admitted that she did not expect such a thing either. “He does not answer such questions, it is his law,” Marchenko was quoted as saying by Russia’s TASS news agency. Oligarch Viktor Medvedchuk is handcuffed after being arrested in a special operation carried out by the SBU secret service of Ukraine on April 12, 2022, in Ukraine. Press Office of the Ukrainian Presidential Press via AP Medvedchuk – listed by Forbes last year as the 12th richest man in Ukraine, worth $ 620 million – was placed under house arrest last May on charges of “ultimate betrayal”. The United States also accused Medvedchuk in January of involvement in Russian intelligence efforts to prepare friendly Ukrainian politicians to take control of the country with the support of the occupying forces. According to the Ukrainian police, he left the house arrest a few days after Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in late February. Viktor Medvedchuk with Russian President Vladimir Putin.ZUMAPRESS.com Zelensky announced his arrest on Tuesday, showing him handcuffed – and sparking widespread celebrations. “It is a symbolic event, like the arrest of Goebbels, a great moral and political success,” said Sergei Letsenko, an adviser to the Ukrainian presidency, referring to the head of Nazi propaganda. “This is the man who received direct instructions and resources from Putin to prepare the ground for the invasion,” he was quoted as saying by AFP. Marchenko is a former TV star who starred in “X-Factor Ukraine.” @ Oksana.marchenko.tv Medvedchuk and the Kremlin deny that he has pulled the strings for the Kremlin in Kyiv. However, he has not hidden his closeness to Putin, even bragging about how the warlike president is the godfather of his youngest daughter, Darina. “We have a great relationship. It has been built for many years “, said Medvedchuk to the French Agency in 2019. With Post cables
