Oleg Sentsov has not eaten for 92 days. The Ukrainian writer and filmmaker, who was arrested by Russian forces in Crimea in 2014 and has since been serving a 20-year sentence based on unfounded terrorism charges, launched a hunger strike on May 14 to demand the release of 64 other Ukrainian political prisoners held in Russia. This 42-year-old artist and single father of two young children has put his life on the line for his fellow detainees. He has refused to ask for a pardon for himself.
As his strike enters its fourth month, Sentsov’s cousin, Natalya Kaplan, reports he has lost some 66 pounds off his 6-f00t-2-inch frame, and his heart rate has slowed to 40 beats per minute. Based on a letter she received from Sentsov last week via his lawyer, she posted a message on Facebook saying that Sentsov “wrote that the end is near – and he wasn’t talking about his release.”
