Russia sentences Ukrainian director to 20 years in prison

[Thanas]

Guardian

Russian court jails Ukrainian film-maker for 20 years over terror offences


A Russian court has sentenced Crimean film director Oleg Sentsov to 20 years in jail, after a trial that has been criticised as fabricated and farcical.

Sentsov, and his co-defendant Alexander Kolchenko, who received a 10-year sentence at the trial on Tuesday, were accused of planning terrorist acts in Crimea after the peninsula was annexed by Russia last year.

The trial was littered with irregularities: Sentsov, 39, said he had been tortured, while investigators dismissed the bruises on his body as being a result of a supposed penchant for sadomasochistic sex. The main prosecution witness recanted in the courtroom and said his evidence had been extorted under torture. No “acts of terrorism” were ever committed, he said, except for an arson incident in which nobody was injured and in which Sentsov denied involvement.

Nevertheless, prosecutors asked for Sentsov to be given a 23-year sentence and Kolchenko a 12-year term. On Tuesday, the panel of three judges in a Rostov military court handed down their verdict. When the judges asked the pair if they understood the verdict, they sang the national anthem of Ukraine.

In an impassioned message to the court last week, Sentsov said he had not been prepared to accept deals with the investigators, who had tortured him and pressed him to confess. “When they put a bag on your head, beat you up a bit, half an hour later, you’re ready to go back on all your beliefs, implicate yourself in whatever they ask, implicate others, just to stop them beating you. I don’t know what your beliefs can possibly be worth if you are not ready to suffer or die for them,” he said.

Sentsov directed the 2011 feature film Gamer, but stopped work on a new movie when Russia began to intervene in Crimea last spring. He coordinated relief efforts for Ukrainian soldiers who were blockaded inside their bases by Russian troops.

International film directors, including Ken Loach, Mike Leigh and Wim Wenders, have signed an open letter to Russian president, Vladimir Putin, calling for Sentsov’s release and an investigation into claims of torture against him. Russian directors have also joined the appeals.

Russian director Andrei Zvyagintsev, whose most recent film Leviathan won a Golden Globe, said on Monday that he had read the documents from the court case and found them unconvincing. He called on Russian authorities to “either release [Sentsov] or try him only for what you can prove irrefutably”.

Alexander Sokurov, director of Russian Ark and other acclaimed films, described the case as “rather fantastic”. In a blog post, he wrote that Sentsov’s actions were “nothing more extremist than civil protest”.

The UK minister for Europe, David Lidington, said he was deeply concerned about the verdict, and described the charges as disproportionate and politically motivated.

Lawyers for Sentsov and Kolchenko said they always expected the court to issue a guilty verdict: innocent verdicts are almost unheard of in the Russian legal system. Their main hope is for some kind of prisoner exchange with Ukraine, possibly for Russian soldiers captured in the east of the country.

The case has been seen as an attempt to discourage further dissent in Crimea, which was annexed after a speedily held referendum last spring. The majority of residents supported joining Russia, but Russia has done everything to prevent the disgruntled minority from protesting. Many ethnic Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars have left for mainland Ukraine.

His final speech:

I actually still hope this will not be my last word. Like [fellow defendant Oleksandr Kolchenko], I am not going to ask for anything from you. [...] A court of occupiers by definition cannot be just. Don’t take it personally, your honour!

I would like to speak about something else. There was a man named Pontius Pilate. After he had sat on the moon for many years, he thought about what he had done. Then, when he was forgiven, he walked along a moonbeam and said to Ha-Notsri [Hebrew name for Jesus of Nazareth]: “You know, you were right. The greatest sin on Earth is cowardice.” This was written by the great Russian writer [Mikhail] Bulgakov in his novel The Master And Margarita. And I agree with him. Cowardice is the main and the worst sin on Earth. Betrayal is a personal form of cowardice.

A big betrayal sometimes begins with a small act of cowardice. Like when they put a bag over your head and beat you and after half an hour you are ready to renounce all your convictions and accuse yourself of anything, to accuse others, just so they will stop beating you. I don’t know what your convictions are worth if you aren’t ready to suffer for them, or even to die.

I am very glad that Gena Afanasev [a witness for the prosecution who renounced his original testimony against Sentsov, saying it had been given under duress] was able to overcome his fear. He lost himself, but in the end he understood that there was still a chance. And he took a courageous and righteous step. I was very surprised by this and I am glad for him.

[...] I am glad for him because he will be able to live the rest of his life and know that he is a human being who did not give in to fear, even though they continue to threaten him, to pressure him, to kick him, to threaten him. But he already stepped in that direction, made a proper step, and you can’t make him go back. I am very glad for him.

I have already spent one year in your wonderful country and I have watched your television. The [news] programs Vesti and Vremya are very good shows. All of your propaganda is working excellently. Most of the Russian population believes what they are saying. Putin is great. There are fascists in Ukraine. Russia is never wrong. There are enemies everywhere. This is very good propaganda.

But I also understand that there are people who are smarter – such as you, for instance, here – who support the government. You perfectly well understand that there are no fascists in Ukraine. That Crimea was annexed illegally. That your troops are fighting in Donbass [a claim Russia has repeatedly denied]. Even I – sitting here in prison – know that your troops are fighting in Donbass.

[They] understand what is happening in the world – what horrible crimes your leadership is committing.

[...] But besides all these people, there is yet another part of the Russian population that knows perfectly well what is going on. But these people are afraid of something. They think that nothing can be changed. That everything will continue as it is. That the system cannot be broken. That they are alone. That there are few of us. That we will all be thrown into prison. That they will kill us, destroy us. And they sit quietly, as mice in their holes.

We also had a criminal regime, but we came out against it. They didn’t want to listen to us – so we beat on trash cans. They didn’t want to see us – so we set tyres on fire. In the end, we won.

The same thing will happen with you, sooner or later. I don’t know what form it will take and I don’t wish to see anyone suffer. I simply wish for you to no longer be governed by criminals.

Judge: That is not within the scope of this proceeding. We are discussing specific questions. According to the law, you do not have the right to talk about just anything.

Sentsov: I am finishing now, your honour!

Judge: I am not interrupting you, but...

Sentsov: I understood that you are not interrupting me. In short, all I can do is wish that this third, informed portion of the Russian population will learn how not to be afraid.

Boy, aren't you glad that the rule of law was restored by Putin. And what great law it is, so brilliantly liberating from fascism. Why, here the main prosecution witness - and the only thing the trial had was his testimony - can recant in the courtroom and glorious Russia will still jail people. After all, glorious Russian law is much different from the Fascists. All praise glorious Russia.

[K. A. Pital]

Well, nothing changed since the FSB trials of green and anarchist folks, I see. No rule of law had, no rule of law gained.

[Simon_Jester]

I hate to pick nits, but there are, in point of fact, fascists in the Ukraine. We know this because they have told us so.

However, since the fascists in question are there in large part to fight the Russian-backed rebels, it is very questionable to use their presence to justify fighting in the Donbass. So the film director is still right.

[K. A. Pital]

The best propaganda is based on truth. Russia is not helping Ukraine to get rid of fascists. If anything, its intervention has made fascists much stronger because their militias were legalized as "freedom fighters" (I know, sounds as crazy as it is).