Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry asks the world to influence Kremlin for liberation of Balukh and Sentsov

23.06.2018 09:10

Ukrinform

The Foreign Ministry of Ukraine has urged the partners to influence Russia to release Ukrainian political prisoners Volodymyr Balukh and Oleg Sentsov, who have been already on hunger strike for 96 and 40 days respectively.

Spokeswoman for the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine Mariana Betsa wrote this on Twitter.

"Political prisoner Volodymyr Balukh has been on hunger strike for 96 days!!! Oleg Sentsov - for 40 days. The situation is critical. We call on the partners to influence the Kremlin for their release," Betsa wrote.

As reported, Ukrainian Human Rights Commissioner Liudmyla Denisova has been in Russia since June 15, but she has been not allowed to visit Ukrainian political prisoners - Oleg Sentsov, Roman Sushchenko, Mykola Karpiuk. After June 19, when she was again not allowed to visit Sentsov, who went on a hunger strike on May 14, Denisova sent a letter to Magne Barth, the head of the regional delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Russia, Belarus and Moldova, with a request to help meet with Ukrainian political prisoners.

In total, about 70 Ukrainian political prisoners are held in Russia and in occupied Crimea, including Ukrinform journalist Roman Sushchenko, who was sentenced to 12 years in a high-security penal colony.

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