19:02, 25 November 2015

Vitishko goes on hunger strike for the second time in colony

Evgeny Vitishko. Photo: http://www.ewnc.org/node/20089

This time, the well-known ecologist from the Krasnodar Territory Evgeny Vitishko is holding his protest against the Tambov Regional Prosecutor's Office, which has appealed against the decision to commute his punishment.

Evgeny Vitishko, an activist of the "Ecological Watch on for Northern Caucasus" (EcoWatch), is serving his sentence under the case of damaging, in 2011, the fence around the territory, known as the "dacha" of Alexander Tkachov, who was then the Governor of the Krasnodar Territory. In December 2013, the Court replaced the Evgeny Vitishko's conditional sentence with the real imprisonment term, and the ecologist was transferred to the Tambov Region.

On November 10, the Kirsanov District Court of the Tambov Region ruled to replace Vitishko's remaining term in colony by a milder form of punishment – restriction of freedom. Therefore, the "Ecological Watch for Northern Caucasus" (EcoWatch) reported Vitishko's release on November 21.

On November 20, it became known that the above Prosecutor's Office had challenged Evgeny Vitishko's leniency. The consideration of the Office's appeal may take more than two weeks, the ecologist's advocate believes.

Today, the EcoWatch has informed that on November 24 Evgeny Vitishko began his hunger strike.

"He filed an official statement about the start of his hunger strike in protest against the inappropriate actions of the Tambov Regional Prosecutor's Office of overseeing compliance with the law in correctional institutions, because of which he is still in colony," says a statement posted on the website of the EcoWatch.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.