Russian Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova said the release of Ukrainian citizens imprisoned in Russia, which moviemaker and writer Oleh Sentsov has demanded while serving his time in a Russian penitentiary, is beyond her purview and is rather a matter of dialogue.
“This issue is not within the purview of either a senator or a human rights commissioner. Therefore, we will be monitoring his (Sentsov’s) health condition in permanent contact with the FSIN (the Russian Penitentiary Service) administration. As for political aspects, this is a matter of dialogue,” Moskalkova told journalists on Friday, June 1.
Moskalkova said Federation Council member Lyudmila Narusova contacted Sentsov via a video link on May 31 at her request, “and she had the opportunity to talk to him and see what his health status is.”
Sentsov himself said that, by declaring a hunger strike, he wanted not to draw attention to the conditions in which he is held but to demand that Ukrainians imprisoned in Russia be freed, she said.
Moskalkova said Ukrainian Human Rights Commissioner Liudmyla Denisova had asked her to arrange for her visit to the penitentiary where Sentsov is held.
“But it should be said that he has two citizenships, he is a citizen of both Russia and Ukraine, and I am doing what I can to keep this issue under control. As for visiting him, I must ask for permission from [Russian] competent government bodies,” Moskalkova said.
