The management of Kyiv Pre-Trial Detention Facility No. 13 issued an order on May 1 to force-feed former Ukrainian Interior Minister and People's Self-Defense Party leader Yuriy Lutsenko, who went on hunger strike on April 25 in protest against his illegal detention, his brother, Serhiy, has said.
He said, referring to statements by Lutsenko’s lawyers, who visited his client on Wednesday, that "this really happened, and they tried to feed him [Yuriy Lutsenko] using special devices." He said that according to European legislation, such measures could be described as torture.
He also said that since the beginning of the hunger strike, Lutsenko had already lost 14 kilograms in weight.
He said that the medical staff of the pre-trial detention facility had taken the ex-minister’s blood for analysis, during which they reported the excessive concentration of acetone in Lutsenko’s body, which is a sign of the long absence of food in his body.
He also confirmed reports by the Prosecutor General’s Office that his brother was in the same cell as before, but now he was alone – according to the internal regulations of the detention facility, when one person went on hunger strike, the two other detainees who were earlier with Lutsenko in the same cell had to be placed in other cells.
