Watchdog

Ukrainian filmmaker Oleh Sentsov, who opposed Moscow's 2014 seizure of Crimea and is now on a hunger strike in a Russian prison colony, could be force-fed if his vital organs begin to fail, according to his lawyer.

Dmitry Dinze was speaking after visiting his client on June 4 at the correctional facility in the far-northern Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Region where Sentsov is serving a 20-year prison term after being convicted on terrorism charges that he and human rights groups say were politically motivated.

Sentsov's plight has sparked an international outcry, with some 50 writers and artists being the latest to urge Russian President Vladimir Putin to release him.

Before Dinze visited his client, Sentsov was taken to a nearby hospital for a medical examination during which doctors ruled the imprisoned Ukrainian filmmaker's condition "satisfactory."

But speaking to RFE/RL's Russian Service, Dinze said Sentsov had already lost some 8 kilograms and his vital organs, including his kidneys, could start to fail as his health continues to deteriorate.

"If these effects [of the hunger strike] take place, they will unfortunately subject him to force-feeding. The doctor warned him of this. Oleh didn't try to argue or compromise," Dinze said.

"The doctor warned that even with force-feeding, a person who stays on hunger strike and is not consuming normal food won't last long," the lawyer added.

He also said that Sentsov thanked all those who had supported him and vowed to continue his struggle.

Sentsov, 41, has been on a hunger strike for three weeks, demanding the release of 64 Ukrainian citizens he considers political prisoners. He is not calling for his own release.

Dozens of artists and journalists called on Putin to release Sentsov in a letter released on June 4 through PEN America.

They wrote that the upcoming World Cup soccer tournament in Russia would heighten scrutiny of the country's human rights abuses. Freeing Sentsov would make a "powerful statement," they wrote.

Margaret Atwood, Stephen Sondheim, and Jonathan Franzen were among the signees.

Earlier this month, Sentsov supporters across the globe conducted a two-day #SaveOlegSentsov campaign.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said on Facebook on June 2 that he was "grateful to everyone who joined" the call for Sentsov's release, denouncing what he called the Kremlin's "lawlessness and totalitarian methods."

Russia seized the Ukrainian peninsula in March 2014 after sending in troops and staging a referendum deemed illegitimate by at least 100 countries in the United Nations. Moscow defends the referendum as a legitimate act of self-determination.

The land grab followed the ouster of Ukraine's Moscow-friendly president, Viktor Yanukovych, in February 2014 after months of street protests.

Sentsov was arrested in May 2014 on suspicion of planning fire-bombings of pro-Russian organizations in Crimea. A Russian court convicted him on multiple terrorism charges in August 2014.

Sentsov has denied all charges against him, saying that a "trial by occupiers cannot be fair by definition."

Kyiv and journalism watchdogs have strongly condemned the sentence given to Ukrainian journalist Roman Sushchenko by a Russian court after it convicted him of spying.

The Moscow City Court found Sushchenko guilty of espionage and sentenced him to 12 years in a strict-regime prison in a June 4 decision that Sushchenko's lawyer, Mark Feigin, said was fabricated for political reasons and would be appealed.

Harlem Desir, a media-freedom representative at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, said he deplored the sentence and called on Russia to let Sushchenko go.

"Journalism is not a crime," Desir said in a statement.

The Committee to Protect Journalists, a New York-based journalism watchdog group, also demanded Suschenko's release and said Russian authorities had failed to back up their allegations with "a shred of evidence."

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko maintained the court convicted Sushchenko on trumped-up charges.

"The unprecedented cynicism of the Russian court...proves that the Kremlin regime will stop at nothing in its attempts to break Ukrainians' spirit," Poroshenko wrote on social media.

The verdict and sentence are likely to add to international scrutiny of Russia ahead of the 2018 soccer World Cup, which it is hosting from June 14 to July 15.

Kyiv, human rights activists, and Western governments say Russia has jailed several Ukrainians on trumped-up, politically motivated charges since Moscow seized the Crimean Peninsula in March 2014 and threw its support behind armed separatists in eastern Ukraine.

Sushchenko, a Paris-based correspondent for the Ukrinform news agency, was detained during a visit to Moscow in 2016 on suspicion of collecting classified information.

The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) has claimed that Sushchenko works for the Ukrainain Defense Ministry and that he gathered information about the Russian military and National Guard.

Sushchenko pleaded not guilty at the start of his trial in March. Prosecutors had urged the court to sentence him to 14 years in prison.

The verdict in Sushchenko's trial came amid heightened attention to the plight of Ukrainians held in Russian prisons, particularly filmmaker Oleh Sentsov, as Russia prepares to host the World Cup.

Sentsov is a Crimea native who is serving a 20-year prison term in Russia after being convicted on terrorism charges that he and human rights groups say were politically motivated. He started a hunger strike on May 14, demanding the release of 64 Ukrainian citizens he considers political prisoners.

Critics accuse Russian authorities of fabricating the charges against Sentsov as a reprisal for his opposition to Moscow's takeover of the Black Sea peninsula.

Russia seized Crimea in March 2014 after sending in troops and staging a referendum deemed illegitimate by at least 100 countries in the United Nations.

On June 4, dozens of artists and journalists, including Stephen Sondhein, Margaret Atwood, and Patrick Stewart, called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to free Sentsov ahead of the World Cup.

Volodymyr Balukh, a pro-Kyiv activist imprisoned by Russian authorities in Crimea in another politically charged case, has been on a hunger strike for nearly two months.

With reporting by Rapsinews, Dozhd, AP, Reuters, and TASS