More than 100 days of Sentsov's hunger strike: what you need to know about the Ukrainian victim and other record hunger strikes

Ukrainian director Oleg Sentsov has been on hunger strike in the Russian colony since May 14 for more than 100 days. He is seeking the release of all Ukrainian political prisoners in the Russian Federation. So far unsuccessfully. And the condition of Sentsov is worsening. Attempts to obtain a pardon or an exchange of Oleg Sentsov, previously sentenced to 20 years of imprisonment and already serving three years, were not crowned with anything. Deutsche Welle recalls the circumstances of the arrest and imprisonment of Sentsov.

What did Oleg Sentsov do before his arrest

42-year-old director Oleg Sentsov is from Simferopol. He managed to make one film in 2011, “Gamer,” which attracted attention and received several awards at international film festivals. The film, starring amateur actors, tells the story of a professional eSports player, hence its title. The success of the first film helped draw attention to his new project, Rhino, a film about children of the 90s.

But soon protests began on the Maidan, which forced Sentsov to postpone work on the painting. He was one of the Automaidan activists, and after the Ukrainian military units in Crimea were blocked by the Russian military in February 2014, he helped the Ukrainian military personnel by bringing them food.

What crimes have Sentsov been accused of?

In May 2014, Russian FSB officers detained Oleg Sentsov along with three other persons on suspicion of terrorism. According to the FSB, the main goal of all four was to commit sabotage and terrorist acts in Simferopol, Sevastopol and Yalta. Sentsov, as the investigation alleged, led a sabotage group of seven people (four more are still wanted), close to the nationalist Ukrainian movement Right Sector.

Specifically, we were talking about two night arson attacks on the doors of the United Russia office and the public organization Russian Community of Crimea. In addition, Sentsov was accused of preparing and coordinating the planned explosions of the Lenin monument and the Eternal Flame memorial.

Ventsov Sentsov could prove?

Evidence of Oleg Sentsov’s guilt is based on the testimony against the director, who had been previously convicted of Crimeans Gennady Afanasyev and Alexey Chirniy. The latter were caught red-handed during the burning of the doors. By the time the investigation into the case of Sentsov and activist Alexander Kolchenko, arrested on 16 in May, Afanasyev and Chirniy agreed to cooperate with the investigation and admitted their guilt. Despite the fact that during the arsons there was no major material damage, Chirny and Afanasyev received seven years in a strict regime colony.

Before the arrest, Sentsov was acquainted only with Afanasyev. Afanasyev later refused his testimony, stating that they were given under torture. Critics believe that the court did not provide sufficient evidence of the director’s guilt.

Verdict: 20 years of a strict regime colony

On August 25, 2015, the North Caucasus Military District Court in Rostov-on-Don sentenced Oleg Sentsov to 20 years in prison to be served in a maximum security colony. Kolchenko received ten years in prison. The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation upheld both sentences. At the beginning of 2016, Sentsov was transferred to Yakutia, and from there to the Labytnangi colony in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug.

Sentsov's sentence caused a great stir, including due to questions about the proportionality of the punishment imposed by the court. The defendants stated that they were subjected to torture, but the court ignored these statements. Sentsov himself did not admit guilt, saying that he was tortured, demanding to testify against the Maidan leaders.

“Maidan is the main act that I have committed in my life. But this does not mean that I am a radical, burned the Berkut or drank someone’s blood. We have driven out our criminal president. When your country occupied Crimea, I returned there and did the same volunteer work as on the Maidan. I talked to hundreds of people. We thought about what to do next, but I never called for any actions that could lead to casualties, I did not create terrorist organizations, and certainly had nothing to do with the Right Sector,” Sentsov said at the trial.

Why did Sentsov go on a hunger strike?

On May 14, Oleg Sentsov, serving his sentence in Labytnangi in Yamal, announced that he was starting an indefinite hunger strike. His main demand, as he put it, is the release of all Ukrainian political prisoners from Russian prisons.

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry considers about 70 people to be such. Despite the fact that the hunger strike poses a direct threat to life and led to a critical deterioration in his health, Sentsov’s lawyer Dmitry Dinze said in an interview with Afisha Daily: “His goal is not to commit suicide or die in prison, but to win. That is, he wants his conditions to begin to be fulfilled.”

Who asked the Russian authorities to release the director

The arrest of the director, accusations against him and the trial caused a wide resonance in the cinematic environment. Filmmakers Pedro Almodovar, Wim Wenders, Krzysztof Zanussi, Ken Loach, Aki Kaurimäki, Volker Schlöndorff and Andrzei Andrzej Andrzej Viey, Andrew Andrzej Wieders, Volker Schlöndorff, Andzhey Andrew Andrew And All Other Repeatedly called for the release of Sentsov European Film Academy.

Letters in defense of Sentsov and calling for his release addressed to the Russian president were sent by the writers Salman Rushdie, Iain McEwan, Jonathan Franzen and Herta Müller (Herta Müller). The famous Hollywood actor Johnny Depp also participated in the campaign in support of Sentsov. In addition, many Russian artists, including directors Alexander Sokurov, Nikita Mikhalkov, Alexey German Jr. and Andrey Zvyagintsev, musician Boris Grebenshchikov and others, stood up for the Ukrainian director.

The leaders of many countries, including the European Union, as well as many leading international organizations have appealed to Russia with a humanitarian solution for Sentsov.

Газета.ру notes that the hunger strike in the twentieth century has become widespread as one of the most radical ways of political struggle. Suffragists and pacifists, miners and political prisoners, leaders of national liberation movements and sentenced terrorists starved. Complete refusal of food usually does not last more than 45 days, after which the body functions begin to fail one by one. Forcibly receiving food, you can stay for months. Below is a list of the most famous hunger strike protest:

1. The deputy of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, the Crimean Tatar leader Mustafa Dzhemilev in 1974, went on a hunger strike in protest against his arrest, which, when force-fed through a probe, continued the 303 of the day, writes RIA News. In 1974, he was arrested on charges of evading military training. 3 the day before the end of the term, a new criminal case was launched against Dzhemilev on charges of drafting documents defaming the Soviet system and conducting anti-state propaganda among the prisoners.
2. Charles Hyder, American astrophysicist. He went on a hunger strike in 1986, hoping to convince the US government to take concrete steps to eliminate nuclear weapons by 2000. In the period of confrontation between the USSR and the USA, he spent about six months under the windows of the White House, eating only vitamins and sea salt. Not having achieved his goal, the scientist went to a remote province. In 1988, he nominated his candidacy for the presidency of the United States and even scored a couple of hundred votes. In the last years of his life, Charles Haider became completely overweight and weighed 116 kilograms. He died at the age of 73 in a nursing home in New Mexico.
3. Soviet nuclear physicist Andrei Sakharov in April-October 1985 of the year held a 178-day hunger strike for the right of his spouse Elena Bonner to go abroad for a heart operation. Sakharov was forcibly hospitalized and forcibly fed.
4. The Cuban dissident and freelance journalist Guillermo Fariñas Hernandez started a protest hunger strike in Cuba at the beginning of 2010, which lasted 135 days. Among his demands to the authorities was the release of 26 sick prisoners suffering from various serious illnesses. In July, the Cuban authorities agreed to release the imprisoned oppositionists 52 and allowed them to leave the country.
5. In 1936, a group of political prisoners who are in a camp organized at the Vorkuta mine, went on a hunger strike with demands to mitigate the conditions of political prisoners. The hunger strike lasted 132 of the day and was discontinued after the declaration of the fulfillment of all the demands of the starving.
6. Soviet writer and dissident Anatoly Marchenko in August 1986, while in the Chistopol prison for “especially dangerous state criminals,” went on a hunger strike, which he held for four months. The main demand of this hunger strike was a general political amnesty in the USSR.
7. Famous Indian Yogi and spiritual mentor Swami Nigamananda, in February 2011, went on a hunger strike to protest the extraction of stone, sand, and other works along the banks of the Hindu holy day of the Ganges River. He died in hospital after the 73 days of the hunger strike.
8. One of the prominent Cuban dissidents, Orlando Zapata, who has been in prison since 2003 of the year, went on a hunger strike in December 2009 to protest mistreatment, in particular, against beatings by security guards. He died in Havana on the 85 day of the hunger strike declared by him.
9. In protest against the arrest for participation in the struggle of the Irish patriots for independence, Lord Mayor of Cork Terence Maksuini and his comrades refused to accept food. Maksuini died on hunger strike on 74, another companion died on 88 day, and the remaining nine people on 94 day refused hunger and gradually recovered.
10. Barry Horne, an animal rights activist, went on a hunger strike while in Long Lartin Prison. He protested against the British position on foot and mouth disease. During Horne's first hunger strikes, his supporters threatened to kill ten leading scientists and animal breeders if he died. He died on the 68th day of the hunger strike - his liver failed.

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