Conflicts

Oleg Sentsov: Ukrainian filmmaker and political prisoner in Russia

Published

11 years ago

January 22, 2015

On behalf of the Open Dialog Foundation, please find below the latest update on the case of Ukrainian activists, from Simferopol, Crimea, currently detained as political prisoners in Russia. The attached report describes particularly the case of Ukrainian filmmaker, Oleg Sentsov, who faces up to 20 years in prison.

The Open Dialog Foundation calls on members of the European Parliament, as well as members of national parliaments of the EU member states, the US and international organizations to closely monitor the described cases and exert all possible pressure, through organizing monitoring missions to detention facilities and the court hearings, sending written statements and letters, as well as within bilateral and multilateral talks with the Russian authorities, in order to bring about the release of Sentsov and other defendants.

As an organization, involved in defending human rights in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, we believe that the criminal proceedings against Sentsov and other Crimean activists are politically motivated and linked to their active pro-Ukrainian position, held during the illegal occupation of the Crimea by the Russian Federation.

Background

Sentsov, a citizen of Crimea, was arrested and accused by the Russian authorities of terrorism in April 2014. His arrest was based on the alleged participation to the Ukrainian nationalist organization ‘Right Sector’. Such accusation has in the meantime been removed from his file, nevertheless, according to the recent decision of the Lefortovo District Court in Moscow, Sentsov will stay in prison untill 11 April, 2015.

The allegations against Sentsov are based solely on the testimony of two other Crimean activists and detainees involved in the criminal case (Gennadiy Afanasyev and Alexey Chirnyi; other arrested Alexander Kolchenko has already been sentenced to seven years in prison). Since in May 2014, torture was exerted on Sentsov in the detention centre, in order to force him to give confessionary statement, it is possible that ill treatment has also been applied to other detainees. Yet, the Russian authorities have refused to open a criminal case with regard to the torture allegations. Furthermore, they do not recognize Sentsov, Afanasyev and Kolchenko to be Ukrainian citizens.

The report may be found here.

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