On the night of September 7-8, a former political prisoner Vladimir Balukh was beaten in Kyiv. The man was found only in the morning. He is in the hospital with a broken arm and collarbone. There is no threat to life. Another former political prisoner, Oleg Sentsov, announced this via his Facebook page.
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“ Vladimir Balukh was beaten last night. He was found only in the morning. He is now in the hospital. His condition is serious. Details are being investigated”,- Sentsov wrote.
Later, the activist added that Volodymyr Balukh had a broken arm and collarbone. There is no threat to life.
We remind that on January 16, 2017, the so-called Rozdolne District Court of Crimea sentenced Vladimir Balukh to three years and seven months in a penal colony and imposed a fine of 10 thousand rubles. He was accused of allegedly storing ammunition. On March 14, the so-called Crimean Supreme Court changed his sentence and excluded the item on the acquisition of ammunition from the prosecution. In this regard, the sentence was changed to 3 years and 5 months of imprisonment in a colony-settlement.
On March 19, 2018, it became known that Vladimir Balukh started a hunger strike, protesting against the sentence imposed on him. On June 23, the political prisoner announced an intensification of the hunger strike, switching to water. This decision was a protest against a provocation by the pre-trial detention center administration against the Ukrainian activist. On October 9, 2018, it was reported that Balukh was being transferred to a Russian colony. This was the reason for the temporary end of the hunger strike.
On July 5, 2018, the so-called Rozdolne District Court of Crimea sentenced Vladimir Balukh to 5 years of imprisonment in a general regime colony and a fine of 10 thousand rubles (about 4 thousand hryvnias) in the second criminal case for disrupting the work of a temporary detention center.
On September 3, 2018, the so-called Supreme Court of Crimea changed the sentence to political prisoner Volodymyr Balukh from 5 years in a general regime colony to 4 years and 11 months. At the same time, the so-called court" did not satisfy the appeal of the defense, but reduced the sentence, “taking into account the positive characteristics of Vladimir Balukh.”
On September 7, 2019, Vladimir Balukh, along with other political prisoners and Ukrainian sailors, was released as part of an exchange of prisoners between Ukraine and Russia.