Oleg Sentsov sentenced to 20 years in prison

The court has found Ukrainian film director Oleg Sentsov and ecologist Alexander Kolchenko guilty of terrorism. Alexander Kolchenko has been sentenced to 10 years, and Oleg Sentsov to 20 years of imprisonment in a high-security penal colony.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that 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.

When the verdict was read out at the trial, the defendants, who completely deny their guilt, laughed.

The judge ruled that prior to the entry of the verdict in legal force, Oleg Sentsov and Alexander Kolchenko will be kept in the SIZO (pre-trial prison) No. 4 in Rostov-on-Don.

Let us remind you that in the course of pleadings, the prosecutor suggested sentencing Oleg Sentsov to 23 and Alexander Kolchenko to 12 years of imprisonment, and the defence asked to acquit the defendants. Observers said the trial was foregone and of political nature. At the court session held on August 6, Oleg Sentsov himself claimed he treated the case as fabricated.

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