Crimea's Russian-controlled Supreme Court refuses to grant Balukh release on parole

16:58, 10.09.2018 1 min read

Russian-controlled Supreme Court of Crimea on Monday refused to satisfy an appeal from Olga Dinze, the lawyer of Ukrainian political prisoner Volodymyr Balukh, against a ruling by another court, which rejected his release on parole.

Balukh, who is now in a detention center, took part in court hearings via video connection, the Krym.Realii news outlet said.

According to Dinze, her client felt very bad, but he did not stop his hunger strike, which he started on March 14, 2018.

As reported, the Russian-controlled Rozdolne District Court in Crimea on July 5 sentenced Ukrainian activist Volodymyr Balukh to five years in a general-security penal colony and fined him 10,000 rubles (about UAH 4,000) in a ruling on two criminal cases together.

Simferopol's Russian-controlled Zheleznodorozhny district court on July 14 declined Dinze's claim for the release of Balukh on parole.