Arrest on the arrest of Oleg Sentsov

Oleg Sentsov and his lawyer Dmitry Dinze in the Lefortovo court 07/07/2014. Photo by Dmitry Zykova/Grani.ru

On August 6, at 10:20 in the Moscow City Court, a consideration of an appeal on the measure of restraint to the Ukrainian director Oleg Sentsov will be held. The court employees informed Sentsov’s lawyers on the date and time of the meeting in less than a day. Meanwhile, according to Art. 233 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation, the hearing is scheduled for at least 14 days from the date of receipt of the case to the court, and lawyers must be notified no later than 7 days before the meeting. In connection with the untimely notice, lawyer Dmitry Dinze will not be able to take part in the meeting, and lawyer Vladimir Samokhin intends to come to the indicated time and discuss the possibility of transfer.

The case of terrorism is fabricated against Sentsov. He is accused of preparing terrorist attacks in the Crimea. Since the end of May, Sentsov has been in the Lefortovo investigative insulator in Moscow. Three more citizens of Ukraine, detained by the FSB officers, - Gennady Afanasyev, Alexei Chirniy and Alexander Kolchenko - are also in custody. The FSB calls them activists of the "Right Sector", but all suspects, as well as numerous witnesses refute their involvement in this organization.

The ECHR filed a complaint about the detention, torture and detention of Sentsov. His release is required by the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry and leading filmmakers of Europe.

By a resolution of the investigator Sentsov, he was recognized as a citizen of Russia. The Politzek himself in a court to extend the arrest stated a protest against attempts to deprive him of the citizenship of Ukraine. “I was and is a citizen of Ukraine,” he emphasized. The director also said: “I do not recognize the annexation of Crimea and the military capture of Crimea by the Russian Federation and any agreements that now concludes the illegitimate government of Crimea with the Russian Federation, I consider it not the imprisonment. I am not a serf, I cannot be transferred to the ground” (