KYIV. Dec 10 (Interfax) - The Ukrainian parliament's human rights commissioner Liudmyla Denisova has asked her Russian counterparts to immediately provide official information on the health condition of the film director Oleh Sentsov, who is a serving a 20-year prison sentence in Russia for terrorism.
"In view of the claim made by Oleh Sentsov's lawyer Dmitry Dinze about his client's worsening health condition, namely: 'a systemic failure of the heart, liver and kidneys, I asked the human rights commissioner in the Russian Federation, Tatyana Moskalkova, and the Russian Federation president's advisor and chairman of the president's council for the promotion of civil society and human rights, Mikhail Fedotov: please, immediately provide exhaustive information on the health condition of Oleh Sentsov," Denisova wrote on her Facebook page on Monday.
Earlier, attorney Dmitry Dinze said on Ekho Moskvy radio that Sentsov was suffering from damage to his heart, liver, and kidneys as a result of the hunger strike.
Earlier on Monday, December 10, the Federal Penitentiary Service branch for the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous District denied that Sentsov had any serious health issues.
"The health of convict Oleh Sentsov is assessed as satisfactory based on the results of unscheduled medical examinations and lab tests. No negative dynamics are observed," the branch's press service told Interfax.
In August 2015, the North Caucasus District Military Court sentenced Sentsov, arrested in Crimea in 2014, to 20 years in a high-security penitentiary for forming a terrorist group in Crimea.
On May 14, 2018, Sentsov went on hunger strike, demanding that Ukrainians incarcerated in Russia be released. He received nutrients intravenously.
On October 5, Valery Maksimenko, the deputy director of the Federal Penitentiary Service, told Interfax that Sentsov had ended his hunger strike by agreeing in writing to receive food. The next day, the Ukrainian confirmed that he was doing so in order to avoid force-feeding. He said he believed that his hunger strike was not successful.