In the face of a verdict of the Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov expected for tomorrow – prosecution has called for 23 years – supporters, institutional and individual, have gathered well over 1,000 signatures for the EFA letter to the President of Russia and Russian authorities asking for his immediate release.
The filmmaker was arrested by the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB) in his house in Simferopol on 11 May 2014 and imprisoned in Russia for over a year before his trial even began. Although the key witness has retracted his testimony as given “under duress”, the trial based on the accusation of Oleg Sentsov having committed “crimes of a terrorist nature” has continued, prosecution has now called for a 23-year sentence, and the verdict is expected for tomorrow, 25 August.
(from Cineuropa.org)
