The Ukrainian citizenship of director Oleg Sentsov and Alexander Kolchenko, convicted on charges of preparing for a terrorist attack in Crimea, has been officially confirmed. This is stated in a message on the website of the Russian Commissioner for Human Rights, published on Monday, April 11.

It notes that the legal uncertainty of their citizenship was eliminated as a result of the actions of the Ombudsman (until March 28, this position was held by Ella Pamfilova).

The conflict was as follows. Before their arrest, Sentsov and Kolchenko lived in Crimea. In accordance with Article 5 of the treaty on the admission of Crimea to Russia, they were recognized as citizens of the Russian Federation, since they did not officially declare their renunciation of Russian citizenship within the one-month period established by the treaty. At the same time, they refused to take advantage of this opportunity, did not apply for Russian passports and, accordingly, did not receive these passports. Sentsov and Kolchenko themselves asked to be considered only Ukrainian citizens.

The Ombudsman insisted that they remain citizens of Ukraine regardless of whether they have Russian citizenship.

“The presence of Ukrainian citizenship of O. Sentsov and A. Kolchenko has been officially confirmed and no one doubts it,” the message emphasizes.

Earlier, Kolchenko’s lawyer Svetlana Sidorkina told Kommersant that the question of the citizenship of Sentsov and his associates could become an obstacle to their extradition to Ukraine. She explained that in order to send them to Ukraine, several conditions must be met, including that they have Ukrainian citizenship. According to Article 61 of the Russian Constitution, Russian citizens cannot be extradited to another state.

In August 2015, the North Caucasus District Military Court sentenced Sentsov to 20 years in prison in a maximum security colony. The court found him guilty of preparing two terrorist attacks in Crimea, preparing for another and creating a terrorist community. The second defendant in the case, Alexander Kolchenko, received ten years in prison. Another defendant, Gennady Afanasyev, was sentenced to seven years in prison. During the investigation, he was the main witness for the prosecution, but refused to testify, saying that it was given under pressure.

The Ombudsman helped confirm the Ukrainian citizenship of Sentsov and Kolchenko