The case of filmmaker Oleh Sentsov made world headlines recently when PEN America announced it was bestowing its Freedom to Write Award on the acclaimed filmmaker and writer. Mr. Sentsov, readers may recall, has been held by Russia and its satraps since May of 2014, when he was taken into custody by Russian security officers in Symferopol, held incommunicado for weeks and then taken from Crimea to Russia, where he was imprisoned and tried – by “a court of occupiers,” as he called it – on trumped-up charges of terrorism. His sentence: 20 years. Amnesty International said his trial was “redolent of Stalinist-era show trials.”
“He’s been forced to sacrifice this promising career in film because of his decision to speak out,” Suzanne Nossel, executive director of PEN America, was quoted as saying by The Washington Post. “It’s just a very vivid illustration of the intolerance of dissent by Putin’s government.”
Known for his maiden film project “Gamer,” Mr. Sentsov was working on a second film project when Russia invaded Crimea. He stopped his work, as The Washington Post reported, “to coordinate relief efforts for Ukrainian soldiers trapped in their base by Russian troops.” He supported the Euro-Maidan and opposed the annexation of Crimea. That was enough to make him an enemy of Russia who was to be severely punished.
U.S. Chargé d’Affaires Kate Byrnes, speaking on March 2 before
the Permanent Council of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe – where the U.S. has been particularly active in supporting Ukraine – offered these words of reassurance: “We have not forgotten Oleh Sentsov, Oleksander Kolchenko, Oleksander Kostenko, and many other Crimean political prisoners serving time in remote Russian penal colonies on baseless convictions in retaliation for their principled objection to Russia’s occupation.”
On March 17, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini issued a statement on the third anniversary of Russia’s annexation of Crimea in which she, too, cited the Sentsov case and underscored that the EU was reiterating its call for the immediate release of Mr. Sentsov, Mr. Kolchenko, who was tried with the filmmaker and sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment, “and all those who have been detained and sentenced in breach of international law.” Similarly, a European Parliament resolution called on Moscow to free more than 30 Ukrainian citizens who were being held in Russia, Crimea or occupied eastern Ukraine. Prior to that, on February 11, the European Film Academy – which screened the film “The Trial – The State of Russia vs. Oleg Sentsov” by Askold Kurov, Agnieszka Holland and Volker Schlöndorff – protested the filmmaker’s incarceration.
To be sure, Ukraine also has repeatedly raised the cases of Mr. Sentsov and scores of others, demanding that Russia “release immediately all illegally detained citizens of Ukraine without any additional preconditions and stop the practice of political persecution and repressions towards our citizens.” As the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group points out, all of them are being held despite the Minsk agreement’s provisions on “the release and exchange of hostages and illegally detained persons based on the principle of ‘all for all.’ ”
Mr. Sentsov is currently in a penal colony in Yakutia. He may not be free , but he is unbowed. In a letter smuggled out of prison he wrote: “There is no need to pull us out of here at all costs. This wouldn’t bring victory any closer. Yet using us as a weapon against the enemy will. You must know: we are not your weak point. If we’re supposed to become the nails in the coffin of a tyrant, I’d like to become one of those nails. Just know that this particular one will not bend.”
PEN America is doing its part to assure that Mr. Sentsov is not forgotten. We, too, cannot forget him and other political prisoners held by Russia, and we must raise their cases at every opportunity that presents itself. For this also is part of Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine.