07:47, 27 August 2015

AI demands to release Oleg Sentsov and Alexander Kolchenko

Oleg Sentsov (to the right) and Alexander Kolchenko in the courtroom. Photo by Anton Naumlyuk, http://www.svoboda.org/media/photogallery/27209166.html

The international human rights organization "Amnesty International" (AI) has called on to release Oleg Sentsov and Alexander Kolchenko sentenced on charges of terrorism or to hold a fair civil trial.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on August 25, the court found Ukrainian film director Oleg Sentsov and ecologist Alexander Kolchenko guilty of terrorism. Alexander Kolchenko is sentenced to 10 years, and Oleg Sentsov to 20 years of imprisonment in a high-security penal colony. The advocates have announced their intention to challenge the verdict. Western politicians have condemned the court's decision.

Oleg Sentsov and Alexander Kolchenko were charged with establishment of the Crimean unit of the organization "Right Sector" banned in Russia and with commitment of terror acts, namely, setting on fire the offices of the public organization "Russian Community of Crimea" and the representative office of the "Edinaya Rossiya" (United Russia) Party in Simferopol. Both defendants claimed being beaten after the detention to confess to the crimes.

On August 25, in the statement published on its website, the AI emphasized that its members attended the trial, including the pronouncement of the verdict in the military court in Rostov-on-Don.

Heather McGill, a researcher on Eurasia at the AI, has called the trial "unfair and illustrative." She has also recalled that the international humanitarian law requires that Russia is to judge Ukrainian citizens in accordance with the laws of Ukraine.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.