Ukrainian director nominated for the Nobel Prize

Former Polish President, Nobel Peace Prize winner of 1983, Lech Walesa, initiated the award of this award to Ukrainian director Oleg Sentsov, convicted in Russia for terrorism. According to the rules of the Nobel Committee, the laureates of the prize can nominate new candidates.

Фото: Depositphotos

“I nominate Oleg Sentsov for the Nobel Peace Prize,” the former Polish president wrote in a statement released on Tuesday. In his opinion, Oleg Sentsov “embodies all those ideals” that at one time guided him in the struggle for the future of the world. According to Walesa, Sentsov “peacefully opposed the annexation of his native Crimea by Russia.”

Walesa noted that in his last speech Sentsov appealed to Russians to learn not to be afraid. “Cowardice is the most important, most terrible sin on earth. Betrayal is a particular form of cowardice,” Radio Liberty quoted Sentsov as saying.

The former head of Poland added that the Ukrainian director “stands for the release of all Ukrainian political prisoners from Russian prisons, without demanding freedom for himself personally.”

Walesa stressed that the conviction of Sentsov was made following an unlawful trial, and the main prosecution witness refused his testimony at the trial, referring to the fact that torture was used on him, writes naTemat.pl.

Recall that in August 2015 of the year, the North-Caucasian District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don found Ukrainian director Oleg Sentsov guilty of organizing a terrorist community and sentenced him to 20 years of a strict regime colony. In the same case, activist Alexander Kolchenko was convicted, who was given 10 years in prison.

Sentsov and Kolchenko are accused of organizing arson attacks on the offices of the Russian Community of Crimea organization and the United Russia office in Simferopol in the spring of 2014, shortly after the annexation of Crimea to Russia.

The convicts themselves consider the case against them to be political, and the evidence to be falsified by the investigation. In addition, Sentsov claimed that after his arrest, he was beaten and tortured by FSB officers to extract a confession.

After the annexation of Crimea, Sentsov was automatically assigned Russian citizenship - on this basis, the Russian authorities previously refused to transfer the director to Kyiv. Sentsov himself did not receive a Russian passport. “He only has one passport, Ukrainian,” said his cousin Natalya Kaplan.

On May 14, 2018, the director, serving time in the Polar Bear colony in Labytnangi in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, went on a hunger strike. Sentsov demands the release of 64 Ukrainian political prisoners serving their sentences in Russia, but does not ask for leniency for himself personally. Although Sentsov’s condition is worsening every day, he has repeatedly stated that he will continue the hunger strike “until the end.”

In mid-August, UN experts called on Russia to immediately release convict Oleg Sentsov. Earlier, a number of foreign cultural figures spoke in support of the director, as well as French President Emmanuel Macron and US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo, who discussed Sentsov’s position with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

However, the position of the Russian authorities remained the same. On August 15, the pardon commission in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug rejected two petitions for clemency for the director - from his mother Lyudmila Sentsova and from Archbishop Clement of Simferopol and Crimea, Novaya Gazeta writes. According to the relatives of the convicted man, Oleg Sentsov himself is against writing a petition for pardon, which is what Moscow insists on.

Read also on ForumDaily:

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

Ukrainian community in the US asks to sign a petition calling for the White House to help in the release of Sentsov

The daughter of a Ukrainian immigrant in the United States touched the social network with an appeal to Ivanka Trump. VIDEO

Do you want more important and interesting news about life in the USA and immigration to America? — support us donate! Also subscribe to our page Facebook. Select the “Priority in display” option and read us first. Also, don't forget to subscribe to our РєР ° РЅР ° Р »РІ Telegram  and Instagram- there is a lot of interesting things there. And join thousands of readers ForumDaily New York — there you will find a lot of interesting and positive information about life in the metropolis.