Brussels, 11/06/2014 (Agence Europe) - On the initiative of the European Film Academy, around 20 leading figures from the European film industry sent a letter to the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and other officials in Russia, on Tuesday 10 June, to express their concern about the fate of the Ukrainian director Oleg Sentsov. Signatories to this letter include Pedro Almodovar, Ken Loach, Antonio Saura, Bertrand Tavernier and Wim Wenders.
The Ukrainian director was arrested by the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB) at his house in Simferopol on 11 May and taken to Moscow where he is being detained awaiting trial. In their letter, the signatores deplore the fact that there has not been any official information about the precise charges brought against Sentsov since his arrest almost three weeks ago. “We, his undersigning European colleagues, are deeply worried and cannot stop wondering how he is and what his future will be. In the light of these circumstances, we respectfully call upon you to ensure the safety of Oleg Sentsov; to make public the whereabouts of the detained; to have the detained charged with a recognisable offence or released; to instigate a full, prompt and impartial investigation into the apparently arbitrary detention by the FSB in order to bring all those responsible to justice”. On 30 May, the FSB announced its intention to charge Sentsov for “terrorism, belonging to a terrorist group and arms trafficking”. If found guilty, he could receive a 20-year prison sentence. The 37-year-old director was part of the Maidan movement, which forced the Ukrainian president, Viktor Yanukovich, to relinquish power. (IL)