Crimean political prisoner drinking only water and tea, lawyers say

Volodymyr Balukh, the Crimean resident convicted of
illegal firearms possession in a Russian court but widely recognized as being
persecuted for his pro-Ukrainian position, has been drinking only water and tea
as part of a hunger strike he declared on March 19, the pravda.com.ua news site
reported on March 27, citing lawyers from the Crimea Human Rights Group. Last
week, his lawyers said that prison officials indicated they will force feed
Balukh intravenously to keep him alive, though they didn’t confirm yesterday
whether that was occurring.

Balukh launched the hunger strike to protest what he
and his lawyers described as an illegal verdict in a falsified criminal case
against him by the Russian government, which sentenced him to three years and
seven months in a penal colony, as well as a RUB 20,000 fine. He was arrested
in January 2016 for an alleged automobile theft after FSB officers visited his
house several times in 2015 upon noticing he hadn’t taken down the Ukrainian
flag on his property after Russia illegally annexed Crimea. Balukh alleges he
was beaten during these visits.

In a related development, the Moscow City Court
extended for six months the arrest of Ukrainian journalist Roman Sushchenko, the
Deutsche Welle news agency reported on March 27. He was arrested in Moscow in
September 2016 during what he said was a personal visit. Sushchenko was
employed as the France correspondent for the Ukrinform news agency at the time.
He was accused and charged with espionage by the Russian government, which
claimed he was serving the in the Chief Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine’s
Defense Ministry. The ministry rejected this claim.

Zenon Zawada: The swelling
cases of human rights violations involving the Russian government are part of
what’s prompting Council of Europe Secretary General Thorbjorn Jagland to call
for removing sanctions against Russia. He is arguing that his organization’s
primary function should be advocating and defending human rights, rather than
engaging in geopolitics. And in fully restoring Russia’s role in the Council of
Europe, the organization would be better able to work with Russia in addressing
its human rights violations rather than in its current condition of isolation.

The West has intensified Russia’s isolation in just
the last week (expelling more than 100 diplomats), which won’t help human
rights prisoners. At the same time, we believe it’s doubtful Russia will be
more responsive to human rights concerns upon its return to the Council of
Europe. The best solution to freeing these Ukrainian prisoners is for the
government to offer its Russian prisoners (estimated at 20) captured in the
Donbas warzone for exchange, which is an idea being discussed in Kyiv.