Balukh declares dry hunger strike, Foreign Ministry demands Ukrainian doctors be granted access to him

17:57, 22.06.2018 1 min read

 Ukrainian political prisoner Volodymyr Balukh, who is held in Simferopol's detention center, has decided to switch to a dry hunger strike. The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has demanded that Ukrainian doctors be granted access to him.

Balukh's public defender, Archbishop of Simferopol and Crimea of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyiv Patriarchate Klyment, told the 15 minut online news site that the convict said that the leadership of the detention center had decided to transfer him to a general cell, "because they believe that Volodia stopped hunger strike.

"Volodia officially declares that he is switching to a dry hunger strike," the archbishop said.

Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mariana Betsa, in turn, expressed her concern about Balukh's condition.

"The life of political prisoner Balukh is in jeopardy. We demand from Russia access for Ukrainian doctors and his immediate release. #FreeBalukh," Betsa wrote on Twitter.