14:46 16.07.2018

Condition of Ukrainian political prisoner Kuku worsening - human rights defenders

2 min read

Human rights activists are concerned about the condition of Crimean Tatar Emir-Usein Kuku, who is under arrest in a detention center in Russia and has been on hunger strike since June 26.

"We see that his condition is really worsening. He needs glucose injections, but the doctor says that if he does so, it will violate the hunger strike [...] In fact, they are trying to kill him," the head of the board of NGO CrimeaSOS, Tamila Tasheva, said at a press conference in Kyiv on Monday.

Tasheva read excerpts from Kuku's letter to his lawyer, where he tells about the pain in his heart and reports that during the first days of the hunger strike, he lost 900 grams of weight every day and then 600 grams every day.

According to her, Kuku is currently in a detention center in Rostov-on-Don (Russia).

Spokeswoman for the international non-governmental organization Amnesty International Maria Guryeva expressed hope that her organization will try to convince Kuku that the use of glucose does not mean abandoning the hunger strike.

"Now we are planning to write a letter to Emir-Usein Kuku stating that it does not mean stopping the hunger strike, that it is not true," Guryeva said.

She also said that "some evidence of the case was received not in a procedural way and therefore it should be recalled."

Kuku is a citizen of Ukraine, a member of the Crimean Contact Group for Human Rights from Yalta. On February 11, 2016, his house in Koreiz (Crimea) was searched, and the human rights activist was detained. Russia's FSB accuses him of taking part in Hizb-ut-Tahrir, which is recognized as a terrorist organization in Russia. Kuku denies the guilt. On February 12, 2016, a Russian court selected a measure of restraint for Kuku in the form of arrest, which is extended until now.

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