Finally stop being a symbol

Oleg Sentsov is free. Anton Dolin explains why this is so important

On Saturday, September 7, 2019, the long -awaited exchange of prisoners between Russia and Ukraine took place. Of the almost seven dozen people (the majority of citizens of Ukraine) who went from Moscow to Kyiv and vice versa, everyone has one name by ear: Oleg Sentsov. None of the prisoners on both sides attracted such attention: petitions were written in his support, collected signatures and arranged international campaigns, and President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky personally met him at Kyiv airport. Why exactly Sentsov, and not any other of journalists, activists and the military, which Russia and Ukraine have changed, explains Anton Dolin's film critic.

Why Sentsov? This issue with different intonation - from puzzled to sarcastic - sounded since the arrest of a Ukrainian film director, later accused of terrorism and sent to the colony for 20 years. The asked answers did not suit. Now this answer was given by the Russian authorities, including Sentsov in the list of exchange of political prisoners with Ukraine. More than thirty people have been released on each side, but not a single surname sounds as often as Sentsov’s surname.

First, Sentsov got into the millstone of the punitive system as an indicative example: he was the most media of pro-Ukrainian activists in the Crimea (after all, a film director, known outside the country), and it was very convenient to include him in an imaginary group of Crimean terrorists. After all, the incorrect terrorist attacks should have looked in the eyes of society justifying the strategy to “join” Crimea.

Then, when Sentsov refused to plead guilty and indicate the more venerable activists of the Maidan, he was appointed as the head of the terrorist group as punishment. Finally, at the time of the unprecedentedly tough sentence, Sentsov became a symbol of judicial arbitrariness in Russia: a situation in which a person who did not do anything decisively did, who did not find a single direct or indirect evidence of guilt, on the basis of two oral evidence (from one of which was publicly renounced in court) receives a similar period. And, of course, a symbol of unbending and perseverance: for a single second he did not lose dignity, did not admit guilt, did not apply speculative rhetoric. He behaved as innocent - because he was innocent.

Oleg Sentsov was accused and punished as if he was Shamil Basayev. The infinite number of paid and voluntary propagandists tried to support this myth, which was not based on anything (and sometimes - on an open lies, like a invented “backpack with explosives”). Today, when it is released and issued to Ukraine, you can read it as a direct recognition of the Russian authorities: of course, none of them ever believed that Sentsov is a terrorist. Real Basaevs do not give out, do not have mercy and do not exchange.

So, why was Sentsov appointed the most terrible criminal of all Ukrainian political prisoners? By accident, in a edification, for the sake of political expediency - each of the answers is both fair and insufficient. Why did Sentsov become a symbol of resistance and protest against political repression in modern Russia? Here is his hundred percent merit. Compare yourself: when Gennady Afanasyev was released in 2016, the defendant in the case of the “Crimean terrorists”, who testified against Sentsov, and then at a court hearing took his words back, this almost did not cause public interest. Now, when at the free of the Sentsov, this automatically means the liberation of the rest of the border political prisoners on both sides, and they all really went free and returned home. Recall that Sentsov did not hold his hunger strike a little more than a year ago - he demanded the liberation of others. And it happened.

From now on, Sentsov also became a symbol of the newly begun reign of Vladimir Zelensky. No one has a doubt that the exchange of prisoners is the result of negotiations, an act of goodwill and the most serious evidence that specific human destinies for him are more important than abstract geopolitical interests. The operation to liberate Sentsov and other political prisoners - in its purest form to “save the ordinary Ryan”, when giant resources are launched to help out specific people. In the post -Soviet space, where governments are accustomed to treat the citizens of their countries with neglect, an unheard of case. No matter how the Zelensky subsequently establishes itself, the current exchange is the best proof that he represents the party of the world, not war.

To make forecasts about the further fate and actions of Sentsov himself is quite stupid. Moreover, now you can ask him directly. Sentsov is free, he is the master of his fate.

It can go to politicians, can forever get away from politics. Can write books or make a movie. He can make a magnificent film, or maybe bad, and let him quarrel critics: this is normal - to be not accurately. From now on, he, like us, can afford it. But I will assume that Sentsov’s main goal is in the near future is to finally stop being a symbol.

We, alas, are enough for us for a long time. Take at least Konstantin Kotov - Muscovite, a citizen of the Russian Federation, for whom neither Ukraine nor the world community will stand up. For months, he held a single picket, demanding the liberation of Sentsov and the exchange of all for all. His desire was fulfilled, but Kotov himself received - like Sentsov, literally for nothing, exclusively for the position and sequence in its defending - four years of colony. Someone else will now be in a picket for Kotov. And again, no one will believe in anyone's honesty and sincerity, and they will also begin to ask "Why Kotov?" And add that there is no smoke without fire. Some things and people do not change.

Anton Dolin