Crimean artist Bogdan Ziza, who poured yellow-blue paint on the wall of the Yevpatoriya city hall and received 15 years in prison for it, began a hunger strike.
“I declare a hunger strike demanding to deprive me of the citizenship of the Russian Federation, as well as to release all political prisoners from Russian imprisonment. If something happens to me in custody, I want society to know that it is only because I am a Ukrainian who opposed the war in my country. And if this is my last word, then only in Russian. These are my last words spoken in Russian,” Ziza said in his last speech at the trial.
The activist was detained because of the action committed on the night of May 16, 2022. Then the building of the occupational administration of Evpatoria was doused with blue and yellow paint. Ziza was fined for “discrediting” the Russian army (Article 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation), after which she was sent to the Simferopol pre-trial detention center on suspicion of an attempted terrorist attack. Subsequently, Zizu was charged with four more criminal articles and included in the list of "terrorists and extremists."
After the arrest, Ziza was beaten by FSB officers and forced to apologize on camera. According to the artist, the FSB shot at least five such videos. The first is the one that got into the social networks, the second was attached to the case file, and a few more were “rejected”.
“They are filmed directly by FSB officers. At first, they calmly ask to say everything they need to the camera. Then, when you refuse, they begin, threatening, to convince. They first forced me to record one video, which they sent to some of their boss for verification. Then another, when he replied that somehow I did not repent very sincerely. I deliberately did not show any emotions, so I was beaten again. I'm not a very good actor, and the text was constantly changing. Then I had to apologize to the Russian army, then to Putin. In the end, even they realized that the latter was already superfluous, ”said Ziza.
