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After 145 days, the solitary protest of Oleg Sentsov comes to an end.
On Friday, the Crimean director, jailed controversially by Russia for terrorism in 2014, announced that he would end his hunger strike as early as Saturday. In a handwritten statement made public by his lawyer, he stated that he was forced to abandon his protest because of "the critical state of his health" and the imminent threat of hospitalization and force-feeding. strength.
"Pathological changes have already begun in my vital organs," reads the statement. "Force-feeding has been planned for me and I have no say in it. […] Under the current circumstances, I am forced to end my hunger strike. "
Valery Maksimenko, deputy director of the Russian Prison Service, had already followed Sentsov's announcement with a statement from his own party to an official news agency. Mr. Sentsov agreed to eat again, said Maksimenko, after being "persuaded by doctors … to choose life".
In recent weeks, while his health was deteriorating, Mr. Sentsov had already gone from one total hunger strike to another including limited nutritional support, then drops of glucose and small doses of protein shakes.
But the four-month hunger strike had an obvious effect. A photo published last weekend, taken last Friday on his 137th day of fasting, shows a man visibly elderly, pale and emaciated. Shortly after the publication of this photo, his lawyer, Dmitry Dinze, stated that his client was suffering from heart, kidney and liver problems. Mr. Sentsov has already refused to be hospitalized a few times, he said.
The director announced a hunger strike on May 14, one month before the World Cup was held by Russia. He has programmed his actions to give the maximum of embarrassment to Russia. He said that he would not end his protest until the Kremlin released 64 Ukrainian political prisoners believed to be detained in Russia.
The ultimatum did not have the desired effect.
Not even an emotional appeal to clemency on the part of Sentsov's mother was enough to move the President of Russia. Mr Sentsov would need to appeal himself, retorted Vladimir Putin, aware that the director had dismissed him. Far from being a political prisoner, Mr. Sentsov was in fact a "terrorist".
The arrest of Mr. Sentsov and his 20-year prison sentence are hotly contested.
"145 days of battle, 20 kg less, the body destroyed and the goal is not achieved. I am grateful to all those who have supported me and I apologize to those who have let me down. "
Oleg Sentsov
Russia said the pro-Ukrainian filmmaker and activist was responsible for the terrorist attacks on pro-Russian organizations in Crimea and attempted to blow up Lenin's statue in the capital, Simferopol. For those who knew Mr. Sentsov at that time, the charges did not sound right: he urged people not to deal with the violence, said one of them. L & # 39; s independent.
Mr. Sentsov pleaded not guilty to all charges. The verdict made in 2015 has never been in doubt: in Russia, more than 99% of the trials ended with the word "guilty".
His imprisonment has been widely condemned by the international community and Amnesty International has declared him a prisoner of conscience.
Ukraine and several European countries have called for the release of Mr Sentsov, but negotiations have become bogged down in recent weeks. Last week, a Russian newspaper hinted that Moscow was seeking a high price, asking the director's exchange against three Russians detained in the United States: Victor Bout (accused of illegal trade in arms), Konstantin Yaroshenko (cocaine trafficking) and Marina Butina (an alleged Russian agent).
The State Department replied curtly. The offer was "foolish" and constituted an "attempt to use the illegal detention of a Ukrainian citizen as a basis for negotiation," he said.
In his statement, Mr Sentsov seemed to accept that his protest had not yet had the desired effect.
"145 days of battle, 20 kg less, the body destroyed and the goal is not reached," he said. "I am grateful to all those who have supported me and I apologize to those whom I have dropped."
