Kolchenko put in Russian colony punitive confinement

Oleksandr Kolchenko, the Ukrainian citizen who had been illegally convicted in Russia, was put in a punitive confinement after returning from the hospital for alleged dress code violation.

Member of the Public Supervising Committee in Chelyabinsk region Tetiana Schur wrote this on Facebook.

August 25, it was a year since Ukrainian citizens Oleg Sentsov and Oleksandr Kolchenko had been sentenced, the committee members visited the colony in Kopeisk town where Kolchenko had been sent ‘to serve his sentence’.

“After returning from the prison hospital where he was examined, Oleksandr was almost immediately sent to punitive confinement for violating the dress code: he washed a jacket and went out to the local area in an undershirt and shorts …” Schur wrote.

“It is a fervent heat in Ural region, therefore if you really want to, it is easy to catch a convict on violating the dress code. However Oleksandr feels good and does not let things get him down,” she said.

The supervising committee members noted they hoped that after the hospital he would not continue to serve his sentence, but their hopes have faded.

The members said they submitted two petitions to the head of the colony – concerning a short meeting with the Consul General of Ukraine in Yekaterinburg and, in fact, a letter to the consul with the request to meet.

As reported, the Russian authorities do not let the consul meet with the Ukrainian political prisoners.

At the same time, the committee members conveyed the greetings of Kolchenko to all friends and those who cheer for him.

“Hi! Thanks for the support. Although things are not as good as it could be, but, as they say in Russian: ‘it squeaks but we go’. Despite all the circumstances, the fact that the correspondence is frozen, I do not stop fighting for each letter. I would like to apologize to all those who wrote to me and whom I have not answer still – I am in an information vacuum. Thank you all! The struggle continues!”

As reported, Ukrainian citizen Kolchenko, who had been illegally sentenced in Russia, started to feel bad and lost weight.

August 25, 2015, the North-Caucasian military court in Rostov-on-Don (Russia) sentenced Crimean citizens Oleg Sentsov and Oleksandr Kolchenko to 20 and 10 years in a penal colony for allegedly “plotting acts of terrorism”.