Oleg Sentsov

A Ukrainian director and writer born in Simferopol in Crimea in 1976. He took an active part in Euromaidan in Kiev (November 2013 - February 2014). During the annexation of Crimea, he organized a meeting "For unity of the country" there and he was helping Ukrainian soldiers’ units surrounded by the Russian troops. In May 2014, he was detained in Simferopol and accused of planning terrorist attacks: blowing up the monuments of Lenin and the Eternal Flame in Simferopol, and setting fire to the headquarters of Russian parties and organizations. The appeals in the defence of Sentsov were sent to President Vladimir Putin. They were signed by Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar, Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki, Polish director Andrzej Wajda, actor Daniel Olbrychski, director Krzysztof Zanussi and many others. However, it did not help and Sentsov was sentenced to twenty years of imprisonment in August 2015. In November 2016, as a part of the "Voice Project", actor Johnny Depp requested to release Sentsov. Johnny Deep took a photo holding a plate with the date of Sentsov’s arrest and the text of his judgement.

The Ukrainians are still detained by the Russians and the separatists

from the imprisonment by pro-Russian fighters before the New Year. According to Ukrainian data, over 100 Ukrainians are still being held on the territory of unrecognized republics, but the number may be higher, as more than 400 people were found missing after the combat operations in Donbass. The detainees’ families appeal to the international community […]