The hunger strike declared by former Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko is an attempt to put pressure on investigators, Ukrainian Deputy Prosecutor General Anatoliy Pryshko has said.
The hunger strike declared by Lutsenko, as well as [the actions of] individuals who supported him in the hunger strike, was nothing more than a carefully thought-out means of putting pressure on the prosecutor’s office and the public in order to avoid criminal responsibility and exert influence on legal proceedings… In any democratic and legal state, such means [of pressure] are illegal and unacceptable," he said in parliament on Friday.
Pryshko said that last year around 100 prisoners had gone on hunger strike in pre-trial detention centers and prisons.
He said that the experience of previous years had shown that the reason for declaring a hunger strike was their disagreement with court rulings on their detention.
"Force-feeding has never been applied to those who went on hunger strike, and no serious consequences have been reported… I want to emphasize that a measure of restraint has never been changed due to a hunger strike," he said.
Pryshko noted that the pre-trial investigation authorities operated exclusively in line with law and added that Lutsenko would be held in custody pursuant to a court ruling until May 26, and then it will be decided at a court session whether his current measure of restraint will be changed or not.
"This question is in the competence of the courts," Pryshko said.
