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Любовь Чижова; Елена Поляковская
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"There will be no cake with champagne"
Ukrainian director Oleg Sentsov, convicted in Russia on charges of terrorism, is today 40 years old
The Ukrainian director Oleg Sentsov today is forty years old. In Kiev and other Ukrainian cities, the Solidarity Committee and the Euromaidan SOS organization organized shares in its support. On the birthday of Oleg Sentsov, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko congratulated, who in his appeal called him "hostage of Moscow" and thanked that Sentsov "did not break."
Oleg Sentsov and three more Ukrainian civil activists were detained in the Crimea annexed by Russia in the spring of 2014. Special services said that they are members of the Right Sector organization banned in Russia and prepared terrorist attacks on the territory of the peninsula. In August 2015, the court in Rostov-on-Don sentenced Oleg Sentsov to 20 years in prison, and by the same case of civil activist Alexander Kolchenko to the age of ten. In November, the Supreme Court of Russia upheld this decision in force. Sentsov is now contained in a colony in Yakutia.
Leading human rights organizations recognized Sentsov and Kolchenko by political prisoners. And the Russian authorities included Oleg Sentsov in the list of "terrorists and extremists" updated by them on July 12.
President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko congratulated the Ukrainian director Oleg Sentsov on his 40th anniversary on his Facebook page.
Poroshenko recalled that out of 40 years of life, Sentsov is a "hostage of Moscow" for two years, and thanked the Ukrainian for the fact that he "did not break", but remained faithful to his principles and spirit. "Ukraine does and will do everything so that you, like every Ukrainian political prisoner, return home," President Poroshenko wrote.
“For more than two years, Sentsov has been contained in Russian prisons. He was arrested in Crimea by Russian invaders and sentenced to 20 years in prison on charges of terrorist activity. Despite the fact that Oleg did not commit any crime and recognizes himself exclusively by a citizen of Ukraine, he was illegally and unreasonably as a Russian court by a Russian citizen and he was exiled to serve his sentences to the north of Russia in Yakutia,” - he was sentenced to serving in Yakutia, The organizer of the action in support of Sentsov told the chairman of the Euromaidan-Crime public organization Sergey Mokrenyuk. Participants in the action will send Sentsov made by yourself cards and drawings.
Oleg Sentsov’s cousin Natalya Kaplan told in an interview with the Ukrainian Service Radio Liberty about the prospects for the liberation of her brother:
- Your brother marks 40 years old, of which for almost three years he is in a Russian prison. How did these last few years change it? Is it weakened or, conversely, is it morally as a person?
Oleg has not changed at all
- I think that Oleg has not changed at all! He was, so, he remained, confident in himself, a very direct person. This is his main feature - directness, and he does not change her completely. I do not see Oleg changed somehow.
- How will he celebrate his birthday?
“I cannot answer this question, but I suspect that there is no way.” Well, they will congratulate him, maybe he will receive telegrams from Crimean friends. I do not think that in a maximum security colony it is possible to celebrate a birthday, as is understood at large. There will definitely be no cake and champagne there.
- How does the feeling that he is very supported in Ukraine affects his state ?
- He is grateful! He is always grateful for support and thanks that he is not forgotten. Because for the political prisoner, this is the main thing, probably, so that they do not forget a person. There are those who just sit, and those who are sitting with support.
- What bothers him the most in prison?
The fate of the children is most worried about him
- Most of all, his children bother him. This is in the first place. Basically, we are talking about them, in the first place he has children, and this is probably the most painful point for him. Now they are with a grandmother in the Crimea.
- Do the Russian authorities in Crimea are worried about Sentsov’s children?
- No, this is not. We follow this, and this is not. There is no pressure on the family.
- Did you come to visit Ukraine or moved?
- I emigrated here, that is, I moved. I now live in Kyiv. This is no secret for a long time, I have been living here for a month.
- And how do you feel in Kyiv?
- Well, much better, of course, than before moving! I am much more comfortable here.
- In what conditions is Oleg contained, what is known about this?
-He does not complain about this, more or less tolerably to him, as is possible in an institution of this type.
- One of his comrades, Alexei Cherniy, was delivered to Moscow. Does Oleg are waiting for such a fate, what do you think?
- We would be very pleased if he, too, ended up in Lefortovo, of course, but so far he is in Yakutsk and so far nothing is known.
- What do the lawyers say - what are the prospects for the liberation of Oleg, after the exchange of Gennady Afanasyev, Yuri Soloshenko, Nadezhda Savchenko?
The issue of his liberation is exclusively political will
- This is exclusively political will, now this is not a legal issue, legally we have practically exhausted ourselves. You need to ask politicians.
- Do you think everything is doing official Kyiv so that Oleg is at home?
- It is difficult to say, but not Kyiv arrested him and did not press him. What Kyiv does ... I do not know all the dialogs, I do not present in the negotiations, so it is difficult for me to evaluate.
- The younger sister of Nadezhda Savchenko, Vera, while hope was in Russia, met with President of Ukraine Peter Poroshenko and other politicians. And someone communicates with you, is interested in your opinion?
- Well, the Ministry of Justice sometimes, if you ask for a meeting to them, then yes. So somehow I do not see the desire to communicate.
-Do you believe that Oleg will meet your 41st birthday in exactly a year in Ukraine?
- I would really like to believe it.
Gennady Afanasyev speaks of Oleg Sentsov on his birthday, who was exchanged on May 25 for Russian troops Evgeny Erofeev and Alexander Alexandrov:
- I already sent Oleg a letter, and not one. I hope they get to him. They are somewhat provocative, since I sent letters with a map of Ukraine, where there is Crimea and East of Ukraine. The guards in Russia perceive this very painfully, since they have the opposite opinion on this subject. But I still hope that Oleg will receive my letter with the card and it will be pleased to see it.
- If you had the opportunity to personally contact Oleg, what would you tell him on the day of his fortieth anniversary?
I hope that those who protect him will be more humane today
- I hope that Oleg will be able to celebrate her birthday, albeit in the circle of cellmates. I also hope that those who protect him will be more humane today, congratulatory cards will come to him on time, and not in a month and he will receive them. I would also tell him: I have a lot of things to do today, and all these things are connected with you. I will fight to the last blood, to the last cell, until you return home. There is hope for this, and they talk about it. I would like to read a small fragment from his speech at the trial:
“We didn’t want to hear us, we knocked on the garbage baches, we didn’t want to see the authorities, we set fire to the tires. In the end we won. The same thing will happen to you-sooner or later. In what form, I don’t know. I don’t want someone to suffer, I want the criminals no longer ruled you.” After these words, Oleg became Putin’s personal enemy.
- Does the Ukrainian authorities do everything to free Oleg, as you think?
- Ukrainian consuls do a lot. I want to remind you that it was they who achieved the issuance of a Ukrainian passport to me, contrary to the reluctance of Russian jailers.
***
On the 40th anniversary of the director Oleg Sentsov, sentenced in Russia on charges of terrorism, Radio Liberty shows a fragment of the film "Process", which is now shooting Askold Kurov. This is the first meeting of relatives Sentsov and two other defendants in the case, Afanasyev and Kolchenko, in Simferopol in September 2015.
Ukrainian director Oleg Sentsov, convicted in Russia on charges of terrorism, is today 40 years old
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