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UKRAINE-RUSSIA-SENTSOV-DIPLOMACY
Kiev urges Moscow to let doctors see hunger-striker Sentsov
KIEV, June 3, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Ukraine urged Russia on Sunday to allow
foreign doctors to visit film director Oleg Sentsov, who has gone on hunger
strike in a Russian prison, as fears mount for his health.
The 41-year-old launched his protest on May 14, demanding that Moscow
release all its Ukrainian political prisoners as Russia prepares to host the
2018 World Cup later this month.
“We have appealed to the Russian Federation with the request to admit
Ukrainian and foreign doctors to Ukrainian political prisoners,” Ulana
Suprun, Ukraine’s acting minister of health wrote on Twitter, using the
hashtag “#FreeSentsov”.
Suprun added a copy of her letter to Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei
Lavrov and Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova which said the visits should
be allowed “to assess their state of health”.
Sentsov, a pro-Ukrainian activist and documentary director, was detained
in Crimea in 2014 after Russia annexed the peninsula on accusations of
masterminding arson attacks.
Sentsov denied the allegations but was found guilty on terrorism
charges, and is serving a 20-year sentence in Russia’s far north.
Russian politician and media star Ksenia Sobchak said on Friday she
spoke to Sentsov via a video call.
“He is very pale, very thin,” Sobchak said, adding that he had begun to
lose his teeth.
On Monday, Russia’s prison service said Sentsov agreed to “receive
supportive therapy,” without providing further details. It described his
condition as “satisfactory”.
BSS/AFP/RY/1958 hrs