Ukrainian journalist Serhiy Tsyhipa of Nova Kakhovka, illegally convicted in Russia and held at a penal colony in Ryazan region, was forced to go on a hunger strike as a final resort to get access to the medication he required for a chronic condition.
This was reported by the ZMINA Human Rights Center with reference to the prisoner’s spouse, Olena, Ukrinform saw.
“This was a forced measure so that he would be given his medicine. Things are settled now as he has got his medication back,” the woman explained.
The man went for the hunger about a month ago.
As wife Olena notes, in a short call with her husband, she found out the meds were for chronic inflammation caused by damp and cold prison cells, which the colony refused to provide despite recommendations from the medical ward.
“I hooked him up with the necessary medication back in May and thought that he had already been taking it. Then during a phone call I found out that they’d been deliberately withholding his until he forced them to by going on a hunger strike,” Olena added.
Nova Kakhovka journalist and writer Serhiy Tsyhipa has been held captive by the invaders for over three years now after being abducted in March 2022 in Kherson region for his pro-Ukrainian stance and media work. The Ukrainian was also a volunteer.
After his arrest on March 12, 2022, contact was lost. Later, from a propaganda video on Russian TV, his family learned he had been in captivity. According to the man’s lawyer, he was initially held in temporarily occupied Crimea’s Simferopol.
On October 6, 2023, the so-called “supreme court” in Crimea sentenced Tsyhipa to 13 years in prison in a top-security colony, accusing him of “espionage”. The man was transferred to a penitentiary in Skopin, Ryazan region.
Earlier, Ukrinform reported that Kremlin prisoner Tsyhipa won the National Prize for the Protection of Freedom of Speech.
Photo: Suspilne
Source: Political prisoner Tsyhipa forced to go on hunger strike to get withheld medication
