408 people in hungerstrike for Ukrainian prisoners

INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY GROWS: 408 JOIN HUNGER STRIKE AGAINST THE TORTURE OF UKRAINIAN POLITICAL PRISONERS

An international action in support of anti-fascist political prisoners in Ukraine took place on 11 September, bringing together hundreds of people in protest against inhumane prison conditions and torture under the fascist Zelensky regime.

408 people took part in the solidarity hunger strike, street protests were held in eight countries, and dozens of comrades supported the action by sending photographs and videos.

This was the second international solidarity action in support of the resistance of Ukrainian political prisoners. The first took place on 5 August this year. Both actions were organised jointly by the Association for the Defence of the Rights of Political Prisoners and Human Rights and the Anti-Imperialist Front.

The call for a one-day hunger strike on 11 September was answered by 408 people from 18 countries, becoming the voice of political prisoners in Vinnytsia Colony No. 86 and other prisons in Ukraine, where anti-fascist prisoners are subjected to torture, humiliation and inhumane conditions of detention.

Dozens of people sent photographs holding posters condemning torture and deaths in Vinnytsia Colony No. 86 and demanding freedom for Alexander Melnyk, who, as one of the leaders of the resistance inside the colony, has been held in a punishment cell and solitary confinement for more than two months.

Among those taking part in the hunger strike were 58 prisoners held in Ukrainian prisons and pre-trial detention centres:

Lukyanivske Pre-Trial Detention Centre – 29
Pyatykhatky Correctional Colony No. 122 – 13
Mykolaiv Pre-Trial Detention Centre – 9
Lviv Pre-Trial Detention Centre – 5
Vinnytsia Colony No. 86 – 2

Two comrades, from Britain and Turkey, carried out three-day hunger strikes in solidarity with Ukrainian anti-fascist political prisoners.

HUNGER STRIKE PARTICIPATION BY COUNTRY

Ukraine – 113
Greece – 112
Turkey – 47
Germany – 32
Austria – 21
Switzerland – 17
Belarus – 12
Belgium – 12
United Kingdom – 10
Russia – 8
Sweden – 7
Argentina – 5
France – 4
Qatar – 2
Netherlands – 2
Norway – 2
Denmark – 1
Saudi Arabia – 1

At the call of the Anti-Imperialist Front and the Association for the Defence of the Rights of Political Prisoners and Human Rights, pickets were organised across Europe and the United States outside embassies and consulates representing the fascist Kyiv regime, alongside other street actions in solidarity with Ukrainian political prisoners.

The actions were organised by local sections of the Anti-Imperialist Front, the People’s Front (Turkey), the Anti-NATO Assembly (Catalonia), the Union for Communist Reconstruction (France), the political organisation Nación Andaluza (Andalusia), the Anti-Imperialist Movements of Madrid, the 23 September Movement (Bulgaria), International Anti-Fascist Solidarity with Ukraine (UK), the Communist Party USA, the German Communist Party, and the Communist Party of Great Britain (Marxist-Leninist).