Memorial recognized Sentsov and Kolchenko as political prisoners

The Human Rights Center “Memorial” recognized as political prisoners the left-wing activist from Simferopol Alexander Kolchenko and the Ukrainian director Oleg Sentsov, who are accused of organizing terrorist attacks in Crimea. This was reported on August 3 on the website of the organization.

Oleg Sentsov is charged with arson and preparations for blowing up a monument to Lenin, in which he did not participate, only because the FSB considers him the head of a criminal group who issued commands to its participants, according to a statement from Memorial. Meanwhile, two other defendants in this case, Gennady Afanasyev and Aleksey Chirniy, who pleaded guilty and were sentenced to imprisonment, on whose testimony Sentsov's accusation was based, later refused to testify against the director .

Memorial also supported the position of Alexander Kolchenko, who does not deny his participation in the arson of the then unregistered Simferopol office of United Russia (according to him, he watched the street), but refuses to recognize it as a terrorist attack. The arson, as a result of which a window was broken and, according to various estimates, from three to five square meters inside the premises burned out, was committed at night, when there was no one in the office, therefore, there was no threat to people's lives. In addition, there is no such necessary sign of a terrorist act as a demonstration of intent to intimidate the population, no demands were made. Finally, similar cases of arson of United Russia offices were usually qualified as deliberate destruction of property, hooliganism (under Articles 167 and 213 of the Criminal Code), Memorial emphasizes.

“It is also unprecedented that the accused are forced to change their citizenship from Ukrainian to Russian, despite the fact that they consider themselves citizens of Ukraine and the only documents proving their identity are Ukrainian passports. This leads to a violation of their rights: the Ukrainian consul is not allowed to see the accused, they cannot be defended by a Ukrainian lawyer,” Memorial notes.

The political subtext of the persecution is evidenced, in particular, by the constant references to the “Right Sector”, the connection with which the defendants have not been proven in any way, the statement says.

Oleg Sentsov should be immediately released and rehabilitated, and his allegation of torture by the FSB should be thoroughly investigated, Kolchenko should be acquitted of the charge of participating in a terrorist community, and the charge of terrorist attack should be reclassified to an article adequate to the offense, the accused should be returned to Crimea , and the investigation should stop attributing Russian citizenship to him, Memorial believes.