Russia puts Ukrainian film director on trial

A UKRAINIAN film-maker, arrested after Russia annexed Crimea, faced trial on terrorism charges yesterday.

Oleg Sentsov, 39, a native of Crimea, was arrested with three others in the regional capital of Simferopol in May 2014 by Russia’s Federal Security Service, the successor agency to the KGB.

Mr Sentsov and a co-defendant, Alexander Kolchenko, are accused of being part of a pro-Ukrainian group plotting attacks on infrastructure and pro-Russian groups on the peninsular, which had been annexed by Russia two months earlier. They are also accused of membership of the far-Right Ukrainian paramilitary group Pravy Sektor, which is banned in Russia.

Both men deny the charges relating to terroism, which carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

“I don’t consider this court a court at all, so you can consider whatever you want,” Mr Sentsov said during the first day of the trial in Rostov-on-Don, in the south west of the Russian Federation.

The case has prompted condemnation not only from the Ukrainian government but also from directors and film-makers across the globe. Mr Sentsov’s first feature film, Gamer, was released at the Rotterdam film festival in 2012. He was working on a second film, with the working title

Rhino, before becoming involved in the Maidan protest movement that overthrew Viktor Yanukovych, the former president of Ukraine, in February 2014. Last summer a number of world-famous directors, including Ken Loach and Wim Wenders, signed an open letter addressed to Vladimir Putin asking the Russian president to ensure Mr Sentsov’s safety.

Mr Sentsov’s legal team expressed pessimism about the trial. “I think the result will be negative. No one will acquit anyone, no one will change any charges,” said lawyer Dmitry Dinze.