9 Aug 2018 19:58

Hunger striker Sentsov's life not at risk in Russian prison - Federal Penitentiary Service

MOSCOW. Aug 9 (Interfax) - The life of the Ukrainian film director Oleh Sentsov jailed in Russia is not in danger, the Federal Penitentiary Service said.

"At present there are no life-threatening conditions or medical instructions on force-feeding," the agency said in an update on Sentsov's health condition sent to the Russian ombudsman Tatyana Moskalkova on Thursday.

Sentsov is receiving "an infusion therapy which includes parenteral nutrition, and he also takes a Nutridrink (ten measuring spoons five times a day)," the letter said.

On Thursday there were renewed efforts to persuade Sentsov to switch to a balanced diet, the agency said.

Earlier on Thursday, the Ukrainian ombudsman Liudmyla Denisova asked Moskalkova to send her Sentsov's picture made on August 9, confirming that he was "alive, not bedridden and can move on his own." This request was granted.

Sentsov was arrested in Crimea in 2014 on terror charges. In August 2015, the North Caucasus District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don found him guilty of forming a terror group in Crimea and sentenced him to 20 years of imprisonment at a high-security facility.

On May 14, 2018 Sentsov announced a hunger strike and demanded the release of all Ukrainians imprisoned in Russia "for political reasons."