Soviet-Era Dissident Bukovsky Halts Hunger Strike After Britain Delays Hearings

Former Soviet dissident Vladimir Bukovsky (file photo)

Soviet-era dissident Vladimir Bukovsky has halted his hunger strike in Britain after a court in Cambridge on May 16 postponed hearings in the child pornography case against him.

The 73-year-old Bukovsky has been charged by British prosecutors of producing and holding indecent images of children.

He began his hunger strike on April 20 to protest the charges.

He also has appealed to the High Court of Justice in London, saying he is a victim of a blackmail campaign by Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB).

During the 1960s and 1970s, Bukovsky spent 12 years in Soviet prisons and psychiatric hospitals on charges of spreading anti-Soviet propaganda.

He has lived in Britain since 1976 and is now a fierce critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Bukovsky also has publicly accused the Kremlin of killing former Russian intelligence officer Aleksandr Litvinenko in London with radiation poisoning in 2006.

The May 16 ruling sets back the date for Bukovsky's next hearing until December 12.

With reporting by theins.ru