An official representative of the European External Action Service (EEAS) expressed on August 10 concerns on behalf of the EU about the state of health of the Ukrainian film director Oleh Sentsov imprisoned in Russia, who has been on hunger strike since May 14.
“The health conditions of Mr. Sentsov are reported to be deteriorating rapidly. We expect Russia to provide him with appropriate treatment in an institutionalized medical setting in line with the European Court of Human Rights interim measure of the past 25th of July,” the communiqué reads.
“The European Union expects international human rights standards on the peninsula [Crimean] to be upheld and all illegally detained Ukrainian citizens in Russia and on the Crimean peninsula to be released without delay,” the statement of the EEAS representative reads.
The North Caucasus District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don ruled in August 2015 to sentence Sentsov, who was detained in Crimea in 2014, to 20 years in a high-security penitentiary for setting up a terrorist group there.
Sentsov declared a hunger strike on May 14, 2018 to demand that all Ukrainians held in Russia “on political motives” be released.
