In a pre-trial detention center in Simferopol, a Ukrainian on hunger strike against being transferred to Russia cut his wrists

Ukrainian citizen Andrei Lugin, convicted in Crimea, cut his wrists as a sign of protest against being transferred to Russia, the reports , citing the prisoner’s wife. Human Rights Information Center

Earlier, Ukrainian Lugin, who is in custody in a Simferopol pre-trial detention center, went on a dry hunger strike . His transfer is scheduled for April 26.

Lugin is one of the Ukrainian citizens who were convicted in Crimea before March 2014. When the referendum on annexing the peninsula to Russia took place, he was already in custody in a detention center.

In May last year he was transported to Mordovia, where he was placed in the penal colony for life prisoners IK-1. Two months later, he was returned to the Simferopol pre-trial detention center to testify “in some criminal case.”

In June 2016, the couple received a document stating that the Russian authorities recognized him as a Ukrainian and were ready to transfer him to the territory of Ukraine, but this did not happen. A few months later, the Ministry of Justice responded to Lugin that he had “acquired Russian citizenship” and was refused extradition.

According to the law “On the admission of the Republic of Crimea to the Russian Federation,” residents of the peninsula who have not submitted an application to retain Ukrainian citizenship are automatically recognized as citizens of Russia.

“Mediazona” wrote in detail about imprisoned citizens of Ukraine who found themselves in Russian colonies after the annexation of Crimea.