Ukrainian political prisoner Volodymyr Balukh is currently imprisoned in the detention center of Armavir, Krasnodar Territory, the Crimean human rights group reported.
“Ukrainian political prisoner Volodymyr Balukh is currently in the detention center of the town of Armavir, Krasnodar Territory,” the official website of the Crimean human rights group said on Facebook on Feb. 24 evening.
According to human rights activists, the reasons for the transfer of political prisoner Balukh are unknown to them.
“Where exactly Balukh is being taken, neither relatives nor lawyers have been informed. The reasons for his transfer from the Kerch colony to the territory of the Russian Federation are also still unknown,” the message said.
As earlier reported, Balukh was detained in December 2016. Crimea’s Rozdolne district court originally sentenced him to three years and seven months of imprisonment in a low-security penal colony and to a fine of 10,000 Russian rubles. Balukh’s defense team said then the case was fabricated, and his verdict would be appealed in courts of higher instances.
Then the Russia-controlled Rozdolne district court changed his sentence to five years in prison in a combination of two criminal cases. The Crimean farmer was accused of illegal possession of weapons and explosives (Part 1 of Article 222 and Part 1 of Article 222.1) and Part 2 of Article 321 (disorganization of the activities of institutions providing isolation from society) of Russia’s Criminal Code.
On October 3, 2018, the so-called Supreme Court of Crimea commuted Balukh’s sentence by one month.
In October 2018, Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada Commissioner for Human Rights Liudmyla Denisova said after the decision of the so-called Supreme Court to commute Balukh’s sentence he would be able to apply for parole.
However, on January 25, 2019, the Russia-controlled Kerch city court refused to release Balukh on parole.
