Secretary General of the Council of Europe will ask Putin to have mercy on Sentsov

Monday Secretary General of the Council of Europe on Monday will submit an official petition to Vladimir Putin about the pardon of Oleg Sentsov, Deutsshe Welle reports with reference to the director of the Department of Communications of CE, Zama Jagland Daniel Holtgen.

The official emphasized that Jagland has the right to make such an appeal on the basis of the European Convention.

On June 20, Jagland, after a meeting in Moscow with the Russian Ombudsman, Tatyana Moskalkova, called for a pardon of Sentsov "for humanitarian reasons." "If a petition is necessary about its pardon, I will willingly submit it on the basis of the European Convention on Human Rights," he said. In turn, Moskalkova said that Jagund did not turn to her with a request for the pardon of Sentsov, but only “expressed interest from the European Council” in this. In the Russian capital, Jagund also met with Vladimir Putin and the head of the Foreign Ministry Sergei Lavrov, but in negotiations with Putin he did not raise the question of the fate of Sentsov.

According to Holtgen, in negotiations with Moskalkova, the Russian side “listened to the call” to free Sentsov, “however, it did not express him support or objections,” after which Jagland decided to personally petition for the pardon of the politicalese.

On June 22, Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that he did not know about Jagund’s request , but with the question of the exchange of Sentsov “there are many problems”, since he was convicted of particularly difficult “terrorist” articles. “And most importantly - who he is de jure, even if he does not recognize himself as a Russian,” the official added. The Russian authorities illegally declared Sentsov a citizen of Russia; The director refuses to admit this and considers himself only a citizen of Ukraine.

On Friday, Sentsov’s lawyer Dmitry Dinze said that Politsyk would not ask Putin about pardon and forbade the lawyer to do this. Sentsov starve the 42nd day, demanding the liberation of all Ukrainian political prisoners in Russia.