Natalia Balukh, the wife of Ukrainian activist Volodymyr Balukh who was recently given a prison sentence in annexed Crimea, enjoyed the first-ever visitation with him at the detention center in Symferopil on October 17 just a day before his transfer to a correctional camp.
A post on the Crimean Human Rights Advocacy Group’s page on Facebook says that, according to information received from Natalia Balukh, her husband was supposed to be transferred to a correctional camp in Kerch on October 18.
Also, she said that their meeting at the detention center in Symferopil did not last long and that she could only see him through the glass. They were able to talk on the phone for about one hour and a half.
Natalia said that Volodymyr was trying to keep up despite his deteriorating health following his decision to go on a hunger strike. She was able to hand over some necessary medicines and food supplies to her husband.
Ukrainian national Volodymyr Balukh was arrested on December 8, 2016 in his own home in the village of Serebrianka in Rozdolne district of Crimea temporarily occupied by the Russian Federation. He was charged by the Russian authorities with storing ammunition.
Balukh went on a hunger strike on March 19, 2018 to protest against his trumped-up case.
On July 5, the Rozdolne district court, which is now controlled by the Russian Federation, sentenced Balukh for five years in a general regime correctional camp and a fine of 10,000 Russian rubles (about Hr4,000 or $150). He was given this sentence as a result of two criminal cases against him. In the court verdict, the judge said that Balukh had committed a crime due to his “dislike of the existing system of administration, which can be proved by crimes committed before.”
On October 3, the so-called “Supreme Court” of Crimea, cut down the prison term for Ukrainian political prisoner Balukh and decided that the Ukrainian has to spend four years and 11 months in prison instead of full five years.
