A Ukrainian former military officer is on the 10th day of a hunger strike in an Italian prison, where he has accused the authorities of mistreating him to make him confess to blowing up Russia's Nord Stream gas pipelines under the Baltic Sea in 2022.
Serhiy Kuznetsov was detained in Italy in August on an arrest warrant from Germany. In a letter shown to the BBC by his lawyer, Mr Kuznetsov says he is being treated as criminal no.1, held in a high-security facility alongside suspected members of so-called Islamic State (IS or Isis). The BBC has contacted the prison, but it has not yet commented.
No-one has admitted carrying out the attack on the pipelines carrying Russian gas to Germany. In his first public comment since his arrest, Mr Kuznetsov writes - by hand - that the Italians have been cynically ignoring my dietary habits for the past two months - a reference to his vegetarian diet. They think that these restrictions can affect my position, and make me confess my guilt. But such efforts are futile.
A relative of Mr Kuznetsov's told me they had tried to deliver special food to the prison, but had been refused - and they were worried that he seemed exhausted.
The Nord Stream pipelines were destroyed deep beneath the Baltic Sea at the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. It was a high-profile and controversial attack. Many initially suspected Russian involvement and an attempt by Moscow to blackmail Europe by restricting its energy supplies.
But this summer, German prosecutors activated arrest warrants for two of the men they suspect of carrying out the attack: Serhiy Kuznetsov and a second Ukrainian citizen, Volodymyr Zhuravlyov, who was detained in Poland. German prosecutors have cited charges of anti-constitutional sabotage as a basis for the extradition requests.
In Italy, by contrast, a court in Bologna last month approved Serhiy Kuznetsov's extradition in a closed hearing. He is currently appealing against that ruling for a second time. His lawyer stated, He told me he had lost 9kg when I said that his clothes were hanging loosely, after visiting his client on hunger strike.
Ukrainian officials have always denied any involvement in the Nord Stream sabotage. As Kuznetsov’s legal situation unfolds, the implications of his incarceration amid heightened geopolitical tensions continue to raise pressing concerns regarding human rights and the ethics of international law.
