Oleksandr Kolchenko, a Ukrainian political prisoner kept in a Russian prison, is in the medical unit. He put on some weight, as Nikolay Shchur, the human rights defender, wrote on his Facebook page referring to the information provided by Kolchenko’s lawyer.
“Sasha is still in the medical unit. But he is no longer along there, he is with the “cell mates”. He put on some weight (He weighs 62 kg). Each meal time is video recorded,” the human rights defender informed.
It was noted that the convicted receives a lot of letters including the letters in Ukrainian and in other languages.
According to Shchur, on June 18, Kolchenko was summoned to the head of the prison. Other people were there, including the regional ombudsman. Yet, Oleksandr answered the question about his health and refused of any further talks saying “I would like to meet Ukraine’s Commissioner for Human Rights”.
Earlier, Kolchenko declared a hunger strike on May 31 demanding to release Oleg Sentsov but had to stop it as he became too weak.
Russian special service detained Kolchenko and Sentsov in May of 2014 in Crimea. They were accused of preparing terrorist attacks on the peninsula. In summer of 2015, Kolchenko was sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment, Sentsov – to 20. Both of them deny their guilt.
