Ukrainian ombudsman is offered to meet Sentsov only in a week

On June 14, Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights Lyudmila Denisova arrived to Russia to meet with Ukrainian political prisoners held by Russia.

The key meeting should be the Ukrainian Commissioner’s visit to the colony of strict regime «Polar Bear» in Labytnangi, where the Ukrainian film director Oleg Sentsov is sentenced. However, the Russian Federation authorities suggested Denisova to meet a prisoner only after June 22^nd, 2018.

«Question of visiting Oleg Sentsov remains open. We insist on an urgent trip to Labytnangi, Tyumen region, where Oleg is kept, but Russia suggests a possible date for meeting after June 22^nd. It is absolutely unacceptable for us! We will further insist on going there the coming days,» said Lyudmila Denisova.

The Russian side has offered to arrange the first visit on June 16 to Omsk, where the Ukrainian political prisoner on «Ukrainian saboteurs’ case» Dmitry Shtyblikov is kept.

According to Denisova, negotiations are also under way about the possibility of visiting a journalist Roman Sushchenko and political prisoner Nikolay Karpyuk.

According to the agreement between Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin, a list of political prisoners was prepared, whom both countries ombudsmen plan to visit. After a trip to Russia, Lyudmila Denisova plans to visit the temporarily occupied Crimea, in particular pretrial detention center in Simferopol where Vladimir Balukh is kept.