Another prison hunger strike

According to the Human Rights Centre “Svoboda”, on 1 July 2009 approximately 84 prisoners from the maximum security unit at Penal Colony No. 58 Izyaslav in the Khmelnytsky region declared an indefinite hunger strike in protest at excessively severe conditions being held in cells, and inhuman treatment from the penal administration. It has been reported that on 2 July the number on hunger strike had increased to 100. On Friday, 3 July, there was information that 17 prisons had slashed their wrists to draw public attention to their problems.

With no possibility of checking how many prisoners are refusing food, and what other protest actions are being taken, the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group has turned to the Human Rights Ombudsperson Nina Karpachov asking that she check the allegations and the conditions in Penal Colony No. 58.

Yevhen Zakharov