COE Secretary General asks Putin to release Sentsov - media

10:09, 26.06.2018 1 min read

Secretary General of the Council of Europe (COE) Thorbjorn Jagland has filed an official request to Russian President Vladimir Putin to pardon Ukrainian filmmaker Oleh Sentsov, who has been on a hunger strike in a Russian prison for 43 days, according to Voice of America.

"The document has been sent, we are waiting for official confirmation from the diplomatic channels of Russia," the report said.

It is noted that as the head of the Council of Europe, the Secretary General has the right to do this in accordance with the European Convention on Human Rights.

On June 20 Jagland visited Moscow, where he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Russian ombudsman Tatyana Moskalkova.

According to Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe Daniel Holtgen, during the talks with Putin, he did not raise the issue of release of Ukrainian political prisoners.