The U.S. Embassy in Ukraine has supported UN special rapporteurs on human rights in their appeal to immediately release Ukrainian political prisoner Oleg Sentsov, who was convicted in Russia.
“We agree with UN experts, who said: ‘Sentsov’s life is in imminent danger. His hunger strike follows a trial and a conviction that has fallen short of international law. We urge Russian authorities to unconditionally release him as a matter of urgency’,” the embassy said on Twitter on August 17.
As reported, on August 15, a group of three UN special rapporteurs on human rights called on Russia to immediately release Sentsov and expressed grave concern for his physical and mental condition.
They also called on the Russian authorities to ensure that Sentsov is immediately provided with access to appropriate medical treatment, based on his full and informed consent.
As reported, in August 2015, the North Caucasus District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don sentenced Sentsov, who had been detained in Crimea in 2014, to 20 years in a strict-security penal colony for an attempt to set up a terrorist group on the peninsula.
Sentsov declared a hunger strike on May 14, 2018 to demand that all Ukrainians held in Russia “for political reasons” be freed.
