The so-called "people's governor" of the Donetsk region, Pavlo Hubarev, who is being held in custody in Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, has begun a hunger strike, his lawyer Oleksandr Hroshynsky told the Lifenews television station.
“Pavlo Hubarev has declared an indefinite hunger strike,” he said.
Speaking at a forum of young diplomats from CIS member countries in
Moscow on Friday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that he
had asked the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
mission working in Ukraine to immediately secure a meeting with Hubarev.
The same demand was forwarded to the International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva, he said.
Hubarev was proclaimed the new governor of the Donetsk region at a
rally of Maidan opponents in Donetsk on March 1. Hubarev and his
supporters had earlier put forward a number of demands to the local
authorities, including a referendum of the region’s status.
Hubarev was arrested in Donetsk on March 6. According to the
Ukrainian Security Service, he is charged with “encroaching on the
territorial integrity and inviolability of Ukraine,”
“Actions aimed at the forceful replacement or overthrowing of the
constitutional government or takeover of power” and “occupation of
governmental or public buildings or structures” under the Ukrainian
Criminal Code.
On March 7 the Shevchenkivsky District Court in Kyiv remanded Hubarev into custody for two months.
In March-April Donetsk protestors repeatedly demanded the release of the people’s governor.
On April 1 Russia’s Federation Council member Igor Morozov said that
Hubarev was held in a very critical condition at a prison hospital after
been brutally beaten and that his relatives were not allowed to see him
and there was no way to contact him.
