A citizen of Ukraine Volodymyr Balukh, illegally convicted in the occupied Crimea, began to take food in order to avoid forced feeding.
“On the 25th day of the hunger strike, after consulting with the Archbishop of the Crimean Kliment, in order to maximally make impossible the likelihood of forcible feeding and unauthorized use of medical means for the preservation of the body, and so as not to cause irreparable grief to my relatives, I decided to switch over to another protest regime. Since that day, I daily use two glasses of oatmeal, 50-70 g of breadcrumbs and I drink tea with honey,” Balukh said in an open address to Ukrainians, a photocopy of which the website of the Crimean human rights group made public.
He noted that he started the hunger strike on March 14, when an illegal verdict on the trumped-up case against him came into effect. Balukh explained that the hunger strike was “a manifestation of his personal contempt for the occupation regime.”
The political prisoner noted that he was beaten, morally mocked, and his personal belongings were stolen. Despite the fact that Balukh managed to achieve transfer to a separate cell, “provocations and moral pressure … only intensified,” the appeal says.
“Only God knows how long this balancing at the zero mark will continue, but at present other methods of exposing the essence of the processes that take place in the occupied Ukrainian Crimea are inaccessible to me,” Balukh wrote.
As reported, Ukrainian farmer Balukh was arrested on December 8, 2016, in his house in the village of Crimea temporarily occupied by the Russian Federation. Russian authorities Serebrianka of Rozdolne district charged him with possession of ammunition.
Crimea’s Rozdolne District Court sentenced Balukh to three years and seven months of imprisonment in a low-security penal colony and to a fine of 10,000 Russian rubles. Balukh’s defense team said the case was fabricated, and his verdict would be appealed in courts of higher instances.
