Oleg Sentsov, victim of the attack

One evening, when twilight only went down to the city, I watched the young guy sitting on the asphalt near the ponds in the Gagarinsky Park of Simferopol, drinks vodka from his throat and washed down with juice. It was a scene from the film "Gamer"-about a teenager who threw a school because of a hobby for computer games. The film was shot by Oleg Sentsov, then I saw him for the first time. Oleg insinuatingly and quietly explained to Vlad that needed from him, and having removed the last double, he also left quietly and imperceptibly.

Oleg had his own computer club in the city center, in the basement. He lasted in Simferopol, perhaps the longest. For those little money that he brought, Oleg and withdrew Gamer. He himself was once a gamer, one of the main in this once large and strong party. The organization of the filming participated half a city: someone provided an apartment for home scenes, someone brought the props, someone was going. The actors worked for free. Yes, and there were no actors, in general,: all roles were played by ordinary people far from the stage. They played almost themselves.

At the premiere of Gamer, the old cinema "Cosmos" - the only one in Simferopol that twisted alternative cinema - gathered a full hall for the first time in a long time. People who came to the show said that this film is an imprint of a whole generation, showing an important layer of a local underground. Oleg was concentrated - and, as usual, silent and insinuating. After the release of Gamer, he closed the club.

Anyone who thinks crookedly is a terrorist with a grenade in his head.

At the very beginning of the filming, Oleg said that his first big film may be the last, "if it does not go." It turned out differently: Gamer won a lot of awards in Ukraine, in Russia and abroad. But he did not have time to make the next film. For more than a year, Oleg, having received several grants, was preparing for the filming of the new nasorog tape, about nineties' children. Actors, as always, searched among ordinary people in Crimean towns and villages. Found almost all the heroes except the main thing.

On the night of May 11, the FSB officers came home to Oleg and stated that they were suspected of preparing a terrorist attack. They probably saw his children cry - twelve -year -old Alina and nine -year -old Vladik, suffering from autism. Probably, Oleg told something quietly and insinuatingly to the children that they would not be worried. And just as quietly left.

When Russian troops entered the territory of Crimea, Oleg became one of those few who supported the movement for a united Ukraine and helped local activists survive in the confrontation between the block with grains of sand. He had no doubt that these people needed support, and for the sake of this he postponed work on the "rhino". Helping to buy and deliver the first necessities of the military who were blocked in units, he seemed to pay tribute to people who once supported him.

Now Oleg is sitting somewhere in the cellars of the building, just two months ago employees of the Russian Security Service. And tomorrow he will be sent to Moscow to achieve punishment on the absurd, wildest article. He sits there silently and concentrated. And the Crimeans already believe that he is a terrorist.

But in fact, he is not alone in this cell. Thousands of people who disagree with the current policy of the Russian authorities are sitting with him. Because now any person with a civil position, different from the official one, it turns out, can be accused of terrorism. Anyone who thinks crookedly is a terrorist with a grenade in his head.

Six months ago, Simferopol was light and free. It was possible to move around the city without photocopies of a passport and go to rallies, criticize power through the press and form communities. Today, the Crimean capital is patrolled by hundreds of people who areomones, and armored personnel carriers are standing on the streets. The Crimean Tatars are monitored in mosques, Majlis is threatened to ban, Mustafa Dzhemillev is not allowed to their homeland. Prok Ukrainian activists are called for interrogations and forced to change citizenship or leave the peninsula.

It seems that Crimea has become a testing platform for the massive etching of dissent. In fact, this is a real attack. And his victim sits for him - Oleg Sentsov. And he is not alone in this cell.