Dmitriy Dinze, the lawyer of Ukrainian film director Oleh Sentsov convicted in Russia, has said that his client is going to continue his hunger strike until 64 political prisoners are released or he dies.
"He will continue his hunger strike until the fatal end. Either he dies or his demands are met," Dinze said.
According to the lawyer, Sentsov does not believe he will be released and is demanding the release of 64 Ukrainian political prisoners by the Russian authorities.
After Sentsov announced a hunger strike on 14 May, he has been placed in solitary confinement with heightened security.
According to Dinze, the film director has rheumatoid arthritis and congenital heart disease.
He noted that Sentsov is regarded as a national of Ukraine, not Russia, in the documents used by the penal colony.
Sentsov announced a hunger strike on 14 May. Ukraine's first deputy speaker and representative in the humanitarian subgroup of the trilateral contact group on Donbas, Iryna Herashchenko, said that Ukraine was ready to transfer 20 people to Russia in exchange for Crimean activist Oleksandr Kolchenko imprisoned in Russia, Oleh Sentsov and other illegally detained Ukrainians.