Former Ukrainian Interior Minister Yury Lutsenko has been transferred to a one-man cell after notifying the administration of the detention center where he is being held that he was on a hunger strike, Lutsenko's wife, Iryna Lutsenko, told Interfax on Friday.
Iryna Lutsenko said she had been invited to the detention center’s administration while visiting her husband on Thursday to hear that he had notified the administration in writing about a hunger strike.
She said the administration had told her that, after he had submitted the document, he was familiarized with "the detention center’s regulations regarding its personnel’s actions in case of [an inmate’s] refusal to take food."
Yury Lutsenko was also "shown devices that could be used to force him to eat," she said.
The ex-minister was also urged to sign a document confirming that his refusal to take food was "a special diet," she said.
"Hearing this, Lutsenko refused to sign any documents on this account," Iryna said.
The detention center was visited by two prosecution officials on Friday, who questioned two of Lutsenko’s cell-mates, and they confirmed once again that the ex-minister was continuing a hunger strike, she said.
"It is a shame to lie. And it is a shame to insult a man who has no chance to appropriately respond to lies," Iryna Lutsenko said.
