On Tuesday, February 8, Ukrainian activist, former political prisoner Volodymyr Balukh, who was previously sentenced to 4 years and 11 months in prison, but later released as part of an exchange between Ukraine and the Russian Federation, turned 51 years old. The team of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center sincerely congratulates Volodymyr Balukh on his birthday! We wish you good health, unbending will and prosperity!
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We remind that on January 16, 2017, the Rozdolnensky 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 Supreme Court of Crimea changed his sentence and excluded the item on the acquisition of ammunition from the charges. 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 is 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 Rozdolnensky District Court of Crimea sentenced Vladimir Balukh to 5 years in prison 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 Vladimir 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.