Ukrainian activist Volodymyr Balukh, who has been convicted by the occupied Crimea's Russian-controlled court, I still being held in the common cell of the Simferopol-based detention center, which is bad for his health in connection with the hunger strike he started more than 115 days ago, according to deputy chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, Akhtem Chiyhoz.
"Now he is in a common cell with a dozen other prisoners, and it's very difficult for him as the schedule is getting breached. This affects his condition. Given the hunger strike he continues to hold on to, it would be better for him to live in conditions calmer than this. His condition remains extremely difficult," Chiygoz said, according to Krym.Realii.
Balukh continues an indefinite hunger strike, which he announced on March 19, 2018.
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As UNIAN reported earlier, Ukrainian political prisoner Vladimir Balukh was additionally sentenced in the occupied Crimea to 5 years in a penal colony on charges of allegedly assaulting the detention center chief. The activist himself and his defense team claim it was the official who attacked the prisoner.
Earlier, Vladimir Balukh was convicted to 3 years and 7 months in a colony-settlement on charges of alleged illegal storage of ammunition.
Human rights activists believe that he is being repressed for his pro-Ukrainian position, in particular for the flag of Ukraine he flew in his own yard. Subsequently, the court reduced his sentence by 2 months, excluding the paragraph on the illegal acquisition of ammunition.
