Ukrainian Ombudsperson Liudmyla Denisova says that a filmmaker from Crimea, Oleh Sentsov, one of the most prominent Ukrainian political prisoners illegally held in Russia, has from June 8 been fed with a blend of unidentified substances.
"I have such suspicion – and it's not just suspicion, it's a fact... I'd like you all to see this letter, where [Mikhail] Fedotov, head of the civil society and human rights council under the president of the Russian Federation, clearly states that from June 8, Oleh Sentsov has been fed with some kind of a blend. We don't know what this blend is made of, what exactly its components are," the Ombudswoman said at a meeting of the Verkhovna Rada leadership with the EU ambassadors in Ukraine and head of the EU Delegation to Ukraine Hugues Mingarelli, held ahead of the 20th Ukraine-EU Summit.
According to Denisova, there have been conflicting reports on Sentsov's state of health since he declared an indefinite hunger strike on May 14.
Read alsoGerashchenko names Russians Ukraine ready to swap for its political prisoners
"This is why I wanted to see personally. Consuls are not being allowed [to visit Sentsov] and were never allowed," she stressed.
The Commissioner stated that Ukrainian political prisoners were simply being hidden by the Russian authorities, and it is unclear what is happening with Sentsov.
As UNIAN reported earlier, on June 9, during a telephone conversation, presidents of Ukraine and Russia, Petro Poroshenko and Vladimir Putin, agreed that in the near future both obmudspersons, Liudmyla Denisova and Tatyana Moskalkova would be allowed to visit prisoners held in both countries.
However, Denisova was never allowed to any of the Ukrainians held in Russian penitentiary facilities.
