February 26 was declared a “Worldwide Day of Action for Oleh Sentsov,” the Ukrainian filmmaker, writer and staunch opponent of Russia’s annexation of Crimea who is serving a 20-year sentence on trumped-up charges of terrorism. As PEN America – which honored Mr. Sentsov in 2016 with its Barbey Freedom to Write Award – noted on the Day of Action, those charges “have been condemned by human rights groups as fabrications by a Russian government intent on silencing dissent.”
The truth is that Mr. Sentsov was punished by Russia for supporting the Euro-Maidan and opposing Russia’s annexation of Crimea. In fact, when Russia’s “little green men” invaded Crimea, he coordinated relief efforts for the Ukrainian soldiers trapped on base by Russian troops. That’s the kind of “terrorist” he is.
Significantly, the Worldwide Day of Action for Oleh Sentsov coincided with the Day of Crimean Resistance to Russian Aggression, which marks the anniversary of a huge demonstration by pro-Ukrainian activists and Crimean Tatars that was held in Symferopol on February 26, 2014, to manifest support for the territorial integrity of Ukraine as Russia was beginning its occupation of the peninsula.
A key organizer of the Day of Action for Oleh Sentsov was PEN America, a branch of the world’s leading international literary and human rights organization, PEN International, which was founded in 1921 and encompasses 101 countries. On February 26, PEN America and partners around the world expressed their support for Mr. Sentsov with readings, rallies and special events across the globe. Supporters on social media used the hashtag #FreeSentsov. On its website, PEN America posted numerous examples of Free Sentsov actions that took place in the United States, Ukraine – including Crimea, Belgium, Canada, Poland, Russia, France, Germany, Lithuania, Australia and other countries.
For us, 2018 marks the fourth year we are writing an editorial about the case of Oleh Sentsov, who was abducted in Crimea, tortured, imprisoned and tried in Russia.
To be sure, Mr. Sentsov is only one of those being held in Russia on fabricated criminal charges – political prisoners who are in fact hostages of Vladimir Putin. Halya Coynash of the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Groups reminds us: “Sentsov, Oleksandr Kolchenko and two other opponents of [Crimea’s] annexation – Hennady Afanasyev and Oleksiy Chyrniy – were seized in May 2014. They were held incommunicado, first in Symferopol, then in Moscow for three weeks, almost certainly in order to hide the most obvious torture marks. The FSB asserted on May 30, 2014, that the four men were members of a ‘Right Sector terrorist’ plot who had been planning terrorist attacks on vital parts of Crimea’s infrastructure. It claimed, for example, that they were planning to blow up railway bridges, although there are none in Crimea. …” And there are so many other political prisoners. (See http://khpg.org/en/index.php?id=1519484999 for more information.)
According to the Facebook public group “Free the Ukrainians Held by Putin,” at least 64 people are currently detained in Russia. Among them are “human rights activist Emir-Usain Kuku, journalist Roman Sushchenko, Crimean farmer Vladimir Balukh, 19-year-old student Pavlo Hryb, Crimean Tatar activist Ruslan Zeytullaev, Capt. 2nd rank Vladimir Dudka and many others. The total length of incarceration of innocent people behind bars has already reached 190 years.”
When he was sentenced back on August 25, 2015, by a court in Rostov-on-Don, Mr. Sentsov courageously declared in his final statement that Russia is a country “governed by criminals,” and underscored “A court of occupiers by definition cannot be just.” Russia’s actions have repeatedly proven him right. The world cannot afford to forget this truth. Nor can it fail to continue speaking up for all those Ukrainian citizens who have been detained by Russian authorities and sentenced by Russia’s rigged courts.