A court in the Russian regional capital of Rostov-on-Don handed down a crushing 20-year sentence in a maximum security prison to Ukrainian Oleg Sentsov on Aug. 25 in a terrorism trial some see as revenge for the filmmaker’s opposition to the Kremlin’s illegal annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea.
Also in court for sentencing was Alexander Kolchenko, a civic activist
in Crimea, who was sentenced to a 10-year term. Both men were accused of
plotting terrorist acts in Crimea following Russia’s illegal annexation of the
peninsula and its annexation via a sham referendum in March 2014.
The verdict triggered an uproar among Russian journalists on social
media, with many pointing out how absurd it was for Sentsov to be found guilty
while Yevgeniya Vasilyeva, a former defense official in a massive corruption
case, got out on early release.
“On the same day, Sentsov got 20
years and Vasilyeva was granted early release. And we, as usual, will forget
and, as usual, forgive,” wrote blogger and photographer Mitya Aleshkovsky.
President Petro Poroshenko immediately tweeted words of support. “Hang
in there, Oleg. The time will come when those who organized this against you will
find themselves in the prisoner’s box,” Poroshenko wrote.
Sentsov and Kolchenko seemed to have expected the verdict, however. They
were seen laughing as it was read out in the court room, according to a live
broadcast of the trial on Ukrainian television. Both men broke into song after
the verdict, singing the words “soul and body we will lay down for our freedom”
from the Ukrainian anthem.
According to Russian prosecutors, Sentsov and Kolchenko were behind two
small arson attacks on the offices of Russian political party United Russia and
the Russian Community in Crimea civic organization in Simferopol on April 14
and April 18, 2014, respectively. Sentsov faced the heavier sentence because
prosecutors said he was the organizer of the attacks.
Sentsov has maintained throughout his trial that the charges against him
were fabricated. He took part in Ukraine’s EuroMaidan public protests in late
2013 and early 2014, and was arrested last May while he was attending a
pro-Ukrainian rally in Crimea. He was then taken to Russia to stand trial.
Sentsov is the most well-known of four Ukrainians arrested at that time –
the others being Kolchenko, Gennady Afanasyev, and Alexei Chirnigo. The four
were accused by Russia’s Federal Security Service of plotting to carry out
terrorist attacks in Crimea.
Afanasyev and Chirnigo have already been sentenced to seven years in
jail for terrorism, but both have refused to testify in the cases against
Sentsov and Kolchenko, claiming via lawyers that they were tortured while in
detention to extract evidence.
Sentsov also claimed earlier that he had been subjected to torture while
in detention ahead of his trial.
Before the Aug. 25 sentencing, Amnesty Ukraine media officer Bogdan
Ovcharuk slammed the court proceedings, saying that allegations that Sentsov
had been tortured while in detention hadn’t been properly investigated.
“The lack of investigation into the torture (claim) is another
manifestation of disregard for the standards of a fair trial in this case,”
Ovcharuk said.
Amnesty International also says the trial itself is illegal, and the
Ukrainians should either be released or charged under Ukrainian law. It said
that under international law the removal or deportation of citizens of an
occupied territory is prohibited, and the criminal laws of the occupied country
should remain in force.
“Any (guilty verdict) will be a loss for Russia, because the case
against these Crimean people is clearly fabricated to punish them for their
opposition to the occupation of Crimea,” Ovcharuk said.
Kyiv Post staff
writer Allison Quinn can be reached at [email protected].
