
09/07/2025
On May 15, 2025, the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany issued an official note of protest to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine. The protest was prompted by serious procedural violations in the case of our editor-in-chief, Sergej Engelmann—a German citizen—who has been held in a Ukrainian pre-trial detention facility for over eight months without a valid legal basis.
In its note, the German side explicitly condemns the severe deficiencies in the translation of legally relevant documents and urgently reminds the Ukrainian authorities of their obligations under international law to uphold the Council of Europe’s minimum standards for qualified interpretation and translation services in the field of human rights.
Of particular concern is the fact that the German journalist was arrested just four days after publishing a critical analysis titled “Who Ordered the Smear Campaign Against Oleg Maltsev?”—an article in which he investigated and exposed the fabricated criminal case against Ukrainian scholar Dr. Oleg Maltsev.
The fact that Mr. Engelmann remains in detention despite a clearly established alibi and numerous documented procedural violations by the prosecution constitutes a diplomatically sensitive incident and signals the emergence of an international scandal.
We express our sincere gratitude to the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany for its clear stance and steadfast support.
We call on all those who believe in the independence of journalism, the inviolability of human rights, and the principles of the rule of law to share and amplify this message.
The situation surrounding the criminal prosecution of Sergej Engelmann, editor-in-chief of World of Martial Arts Magazine and a German journalist, continues