KYIV – Oleg Sentsov, a Crimean filmmaker and political prisoner in Russia, became the laureate of the yearly Sakharov Prize on October 25 that the European Parliament bestowed for his human rights stance against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“Through his courage and determination, by putting his life in danger, the filmmaker…has become a symbol of the struggle for the release of political prisoners held in Russia and around the world,” said European Union Parliament President Antonio Tajani in a news release.
The award further casts light on Russia’s self-imposed status as a pariah state through its war mongering in Ukraine and other countries. It further highlights Moscow’s international isolation as chronic abuser of human rights, for interfering in foreign elections, waging cyber warfare on states and carrying out assassinations domestically and in foreign countries of its perceived enemies.
More than 70 Ukrainian political prisoners are incarcerated on trumped up charges either in Russia or in the occupied Ukrainian territories of Crimea and parts of Donbas where the two of the country’s easternmost regions lie.
Mr. Sentsov, 42, was arrested by Russian occupying authorities in May 2014 and subsequently convicted on so-called terrorist charges. He was given a 20-year prison sentence in a northern Russian penal colony.
He went on hunger strike from mid-May until October 6. He ended it after he was threatened with being force fed.
“By awarding him the Sakharov Prize, the European Parliament is expressing its solidarity with him and his cause. We ask that he be released immediately,” Mr. Tajani added. “His struggle reminds us that it is our duty to defend human rights everywhere in the world and in all circumstances.”