Ukrainian political prisoner, Crimean farmer Volodymyr Balukh may be transferred to a penal colony in Tver region of the Russian Federation.

"Now he is in the Republic of Adygea, the town of Armavir. There is information that he is planned to be transferred to a penal colony in Tver region in the near future. It is a so-called “red colony”, where the administration uses certain prisoners to intimidate other prisoners," lawyer Nikolay Polozov said in an exclusive commentary to the Priamyi Ukrainian TV channel.

As the lawyer noted, the Russian authorities cannot forgive that Balukh had dared to raise a Ukrainian flag over his house during the occupation of the peninsula and now they take revenge for the principled stance of the political prisoner. In addition, Polozov noted that the transfer of Balukh from Crimea to Russia had been absolutely illegal.

Earlier it was reported that on the evening of February 21 Volodymyr Balukh had been transferred from a remand prison in Krasnodar. The reasons for his transfer from the Kerch colony to the territory of the Russian Federation are still unknown.

The Federal Security Service of Russia detained Volodymyr Balukh on December 8, 2016. The FSB officers claimed that they had found 90 cartridges and several TNT blocks in the attic of his house. Balukh's defense team and human rights defenders say that he is a victim of repression for his pro-Ukrainian position – raising Ukraine's flag in the courtyard of his house.

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