Support has continued to grow internationally for Bogdan Syrotiuk, the young Ukrainian socialist sentenced to 15 years in prison for opposing the NATO-Russia proxy war in Ukraine. On Monday, Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s La France Insoumise (LFI) party issued a communiqué condemning the fabricated charges and the “unacceptable brutality” of the sentence against Syrotiuk and calling for his immediate release.

On August 10, a court in Pervomaisk sentenced Syrotiuk, a leader of the Young Guard of Bolshevik Leninists (YGBL), on charges of “high treason … under martial law.” Since then, the campaign waged by the sections of the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI) to defend Bogdan has won increasing prominence and support. Over 7,700 people from 90 countries have signed the petition for Syrotiuk on FreeBogdan.org, and letters of protest have flowed to the Pervomaisk court from over 30 countries.

A growing range of political parties across Europe have condemned the sentence and demanded Bogdan’s freedom. These include the Stop the War Coalition in Britain, Revolutionary Left and the Spanish Communist Workers Party in Spain, Socialist Alternative in the Netherlands, and the Spartacist Workers Party and Klasse Gegen Klasse in Germany. In France, Lutte ouvrière (LO, Workers Struggle) and Révolution permanente (RP) have issued statements calling to free Syrotiuk.

LFI’s decision to issue their own call for Syrotiuk’s freedom reflects the growing prominence of the campaign to free Syrotiuk, and the political significance of Syrotiuk’s struggle to unite the working class against far-right forces and a bloody war that threatens to engulf all of Europe.

Mélenchon is a front-runner in next year’s French presidential elections, which currently are expected to produce a runoff between Mélenchon and a neo-fascist candidate. In the 2022 elections, Mélenchon won nearly 8 million votes. Many LFI officials—including LFI National Assembly group leader Mathilde Panot, and LFI European Parliament members Rima Hassan and Emma Fourreau—have faced police interrogation or legal charges on trumped-up accusations of terrorism for statements of opposition to the Gaza genocide.

Below is the full text of LFI’s communiqué translated into English.

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Press communiqué: Ukraine: Criticizing the war cannot be punishable by 15 years in prison

On August 10, 2026, a Ukrainian court condemned Bogdan Syrotiuk, a 27-year-old socialist militant, to 15 years in prison for “high treason” and to the confiscation of his assets. This sentence is one of unacceptable brutality.

The judgment gives no evidence of espionage, sabotage, or transmission of military intelligence to Russia. As proof of high treason it cites the drafting, translation and publication of six articles for the “World Socialist Web Site,” a socialist publication established in the United States. In these texts, Bogdan Syrotiuk criticizes the policy of the Ukrainian government and the role of NATO, denounces the rehabilitation of Nazi collaborationists like Stepan Bandera, and calls for the unity of Russian and Ukrainian workers against war. He also explicitly condemns the invasion of Ukraine by the regime of Vladimir Putin.

These positions can be discussed or combatted politically. They cannot be punished by 15 years of prison and assimilated to treason against the state.

The ruling also orders the destruction of the program of his organization, of brochures and printed articles seized during searches. To political condemnation there is thus added a particularly worrying act of state censorship.

France Unbowed condemns without reservation the Russian invasion, defends the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine as well as the Ukrainian people’s right to peace. But war cannot serve as a pretext for the annihilation of political pluralism. It does not authorize a government to turn all political opposition into a crime against the state.

France Unbowed asks for the cancellation of this ruling and the immediate liberation of Bogdan Syrotiuk. It calls on the French government and the European Union to end their silence, and to ask for effective guarantees for appeal procedures and to ensure the respect for free expression guaranteed by the European Convention for Human Rights.

Solidarity with a people subjected to aggression does not impose alignment with its government. To remain silent before such a disproportionate political verdict would betray the democratic principles that Europe claims to defend.

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The campaign in defense of Bogdan Syrotiuk is at the center of growing opposition of workers, youth and progressive sections of the middle classes to war, militarism and the promotion of fascistic political forces.

The World Socialist Web Site and the Parti de l’égalité socialiste of France urge their readers and supporters to visit the website of the campaign to free Bogdan Syrotiuk, FreeBogdan.org. There they can sign the petition for his freedom. Through FreeBogdan.org, readers can access Ukrainian translation tools to contact the Pervomaisk City District Court at inbox@pm.mk.court.gov.ua and the Nikolaev Court of Appeal at inbox@mka.court.gov.ua, with a copy to freebogdan@wsws.org, to demand the sentence be overturned and that Bogdan be freed.