Ukrainian film director Oleg Sentsov who stopped his 145-day hungerstrike in early October is experiencing serious health complications in the Russian penal colony.
Oleg Sentsov has been recently taken to the intensive care unit in Labytnangi hospital, his cousin Natalia Kaplan told Ukraine’s TV channel 24. According to her, the hunger strike has caused irreparable damage to Sentsov’s health.
“The situation is critical. No one knows how it will end – irreversible consequences have already been spotted. Liver, heart, brain, stomach, intestines have been affected. The man had not eaten anything for 145 days,” she said.
Oleg Sentsov stopped hungerstriking on October, 6 in fear of being force-fed, Kaplan stressed.
The charge was based on the testimony of Alexey Chyrny and Gennady Afanasiev. In court Afanasiev withdrew evidence saying that he had been tortured in jail. It is impossible to swap Sentsov for any Russian prisoner in Ukraine, because after the annexation of Crimea Russia started considering the Ukrainian director a citizen of Russia.
The Ukrainian filmmaker, who demands that the Russian authorities release all Ukrainians jailed in Russia and Crimea, went on hunger strike on May, 14. There are 64 Ukrainian prisoners in Russia and Crimea. The 42-year-old prisoner has not asked president Vladimir Putin for pardon.
Belsat.eu