Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov received his 2018 Sakharov Prize in person on Tuesday 26 November.
Released from Russian prison during a prisoner exchange on 7 September last (see EUROPE 12323/13), the filmmaker, sentenced to 20 years in camp and released after 5 years, was finally able to receive his prize, which had been awarded in absentia to his family last December (see EUROPE 12158/11).
“I accept this award, but not for myself”, he acknowledged in a very political speech to MEPs. According to the filmmaker, who wants to resume his work where he left off five years ago, the Sakharov Prize is destined for “all Ukrainian political prisoners who have been or are in Russian prisons, all Ukrainians in the hands of separatists, those who are fighting for our country, our military, who are fighting for our independence or have died in battle”.
While he stressed that receiving this award was “a great honour and a great responsibility”, the day before, before the deputies of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and Development and the Human Rights Subcommittee, the filmmaker confided that having received this award had not “necessarily filled him with joy”. “Many people who were released at the same time as me suffered much more than I did. I knew what our comrades had been through; that's why I didn't necessarily jump for joy”, he explained, embarrassed to have been rewarded.
In plenary, Mr Sentsov took the opportunity to attack Vladimir Putin's Russia. In a very political speech, he called on MEPs to keep a tough line. “There is much talk of appeasement, of making peace with Russia. But I don't believe what Putin says and I encourage you not to believe it”, he said.
“Every time one of you extends a hand of friendship to Putin over our heads, remember the 13,000 Ukrainian deaths, the hundreds of Ukrainians still in prison who may be tortured as I speak, the Crimean Tatars arrested (...), our young people (...) who risk their lives for our freedom, your freedom”, he listed, before adding, “Don't forget them. Long live Ukraine!”
Because according to Mr Sentsov, the Russians do not want peace in Donbass and Ukraine. “They want us to live on our knees, they want to govern European politics in their own way. We must not allow them”, he explained. “We will continue to fight for our freedom to the end”, he promised, recalling that Ukraine was the most “Euro-optimistic” country, because it sees no “other development model”. The day before, he had pointed out that his country had no other option than to become a Member of the EU and NATO, believing that this was what the majority of Ukrainians thought. “You can't counter Russia any other way”, he confided. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)