12:24, 4 September 2015

Sentsov's defence appeals against his verdict

The defence of the Ukrainian film director Oleg Sentsov, sentenced to 20 years in prison on charges of preparing terror acts in the Crimea, has appealed against the verdict, said the advocate Dmitry Dinze.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on August 25 the Ukrainian film director Oleg Sentsov and the ecologist Alexander Kolchenko were found guilty of terrorism and sentenced to 20 and 10 years in a high-security colony, accordingly.

Oleg Sentsov and Alexander Kolchenko were charged with establishment of the Crimean unit of the organization "Right Sector" banned in Russia and with 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.

"I ask to cancel the verdict and acquit Oleg Sentsov in full," Dmitry Dinze said today.

He explained that in his complaint he pointed to the injustice of the verdict, admitted procedural violations and mismatch of the factual data to the facts presented in the judge's verdict. "I also draw attention to the fact that the court failed to take into consideration the personality of my client," said the advocate.

He has added that the complaint will be considered by the Russia's Supreme Court; and the "Interfax" specifies that the appeal complaint will be considered no earlier than October 2015.

It should be noted here that the above verdict was condemned by politicians of the USA and Europe, while Ukrainian authorities are preparing a complaint to the ECtHR against Russia.

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