Foreign Ministry calls on international partners to put more pressure on Russia to free Sentsov

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine calls on international organizations and partners to increase pressure on Russia for the release of jailed Ukrainian film director Oleg Sentsov, who has been on a hunger strike for 100 days.  

Spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Mariana Betsa wrote this on Twitter.

"Oleg Sentsov has been on a hunger strike for 100 days, a terrible figure. Human life is the highest value. We are urging the Russian Federation to immediately release Oleg. We are calling on our partners and international organizations to increase pressure on the Russian Federation to save Oleg Sentsov and release Ukrainian political prisoners in Russia,” Betsa wrote.

As Ukrinform reported, Sentsov was detained by Russian security services in Crimea in May 2014.

He was sentenced to 20 years in a penal colony in Russia for alleged "plotting acts of terrorism."

On May 14, 2018, he declared a hunger strike demanding the release of all Ukrainian political prisoners of the Kremlin.

On August 8, Sentsov’s sister Natalia Kaplan said that his condition is "catastrophically bad",

About 70 Ukrainians are political prisoners in Russia and in the occupied Crimea. This list also includes Ukrinform journalist Roman Sushchenko, who was sentenced to 12 years of imprisonment in a high-security penal colony on fabricated charges of "espionage."

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