How do political prisoners Ukrainians Oleg Sentsov and Alexander Kolchenko live in Russian colonies?

On March 1, lawyer Olga Dinze visited Ukrainian director Oleg Sentsov in the Polar Bear colony in the city of Labytnangi, Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug of Russia.

“At about 12:00, we finally managed to get to Oleg. He feels fine. In my opinion, he has recovered quite a lot. As he explained, he now eats well and exercises. He devotes time to himself and creativity. He is constantly at work, as he explains, they walk in formation for half a day, and do sports and creativity for half a day,” the lawyer told the agency UNIANquoted Vesta Israel.

According to her, Sentsov is being kept in a general barracks for 50-60 people.

Together with Oleg Sentsov, anti-fascist Alexander Kolchenko was convicted in 2015 for setting fire to the office of the United Russia party in Crimea. The activist and director were accused of terrorism and sentenced to 10 and 20 years in prison, respectively. They deny their guilt.

From May to October 2018 year Sentsov held a hunger strikedemanding the release of Ukrainian political prisoners who are in Russia.

In May, 2018 was held in New York action-performance for the release of Oleg Sentsov. The action was held under the slogan “Time is running out” (Time is running out). To demonstrate the idea of ​​the passing time, during a protest, an hourglass performance was held, the dancers were dressed in striped costumes.

In June, 2018, in support of Sentsov, spoke dozens of celebrities and 38 countriesamong which are the USA, France and the UK.

October 6 2018 years Oleg Sentsov stopped hunger strike. “Due to the critical state of my health, as well as the onset of pathological changes in the internal organs, forced feeding is planned for me in the very near future. My opinion is no longer taken into account - supposedly I am no longer able to adequately assess the level of health and the dangers that threaten him,” the director explained the decision.

International human rights activists consider Sentsova and Kolchenko political prisoners, writes Present Tense.

- You used to say, it seems like a political prisoner.
- Well yes.
- Do you still think so?
- Of course.

Alexander Kolchenko is serving a sentence in a Kopeisk colony in the Chelyabinsk region. Recently, members of the regional public monitoring commission visited him with the inspection.

“He plays sports and receives correspondence”

Kolchenko shows letters to the commission: he receives words of support and solidarity from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Sweden, Germany, France. Write mostly strangers who learned about it from the news.

His height is ninety meters. Above average. Therefore, they give additional food: a little milk and cottage cheese, sometimes an egg. In the canteen they say this is how they feed all very tall people: “They are given one and a half rations. Potato soup with oatmeal and fried meat with pasta.”

The prisoner’s mother, Larisa Kolchenko, told Present Time that Alexander was given additional food after he stopped his hunger strike in June 2018. He refused food in support of Oleg Sentsov’s demands. Both wanted Russia to release all Ukrainian political prisoners. “He was already in such a critical condition, he lost almost 10 kilograms of weight,” says Larisa Kolchenko.

She looks at the colony from the colony at home, sees her son for the first time in eight months. Last time on a date with his son Larisa managed to get in the summer.

Members of the PMC are pleased with what they saw in the colony. Deputy head of the commission Fyodor Belke praises the rich food in the canteen. The head of the PSC of the Chelyabinsk region, Vasily Katane, sums it up: “He is into sports, he has good relations in the detachment, mail, correspondence, he receives everything on time.”

ShIZO on holidays

Before the New Year, Kolchenko was sent to an isolation ward for ten days. “In the detention center did you celebrate the New Year alone or was it double?” - a member of the commission asks. “The two of us,” Alexander answers. “Met” is said loudly: lights out at ten in the evening in the colony.

“If we take the dates of Sasha’s placement in the pre-trial detention center (punishment cell - NV), [we will see]: on all calendar dates, holidays and all kinds of presidential inaugurations, people with certain articles are always isolated,” human rights activist Tatyana Shchur comments on Kolchenko’s placement in the pre-trial detention center. She did not participate in the inspection that visited the convicted Ukrainian: now the PSC of the region is mainly those who got there in agreement with the FSIN, the activist says.

“It’s the same as if he was talking to the colony staff, there’s no difference,” says Shchur.

“He stretched out even more, became haggard. And he has matured, of course,” Larisa Kolchenko hopes to go on a date with her son this spring. She says that Alexander asks to write more letters about everything that is happening in his homeland: “You can’t write about politics there at all, it’s undesirable, but some other news: from art, culture, science - all of this interests him too.”

Read also on ForumDaily:

More than 100 days of Sentsov's hunger strike: what you need to know about the Ukrainian victim and other record hunger strikes

How does a Ukrainian live, who testified against Sentsov and received a pardon from Putin?

The “testament” of Sentsov to the sounds of the sea touched the social network. VIDEO

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