Biography

July 13, 1976 · Simferopol, Ukrainian SSR, USSR

Oleg Gennadievich Sentsov

Sentsov was arrested by the Russian FSB (Federal Security Service) in his house in Simferopol in Crimea on 11 May 2014 and taken to Moscow, where he has been detained in the Lefortovo prison. On 30 May 2014 the FSB announced that Sentsov - who had actively opposed Russia's annexation of Crimea, delivering food supplies to Ukrainian army troops trapped in their barracks - would be charged with planning to bomb with home-made devices two World War II monuments and setting fire to other buildings. Sentsov denied all charges and called them insulting. After more than a year of legal prosecution, Sentsov was sentenced in August 2015 to 20 years imprisonment on charges of terrorism and terrorist organizing. Sentsov has denied the court ruling and continues to plead not guilty. The trial was condemned by Amnesty International and other human rights' groups as a farce. Furthermore, both the United States and the European Union have officially classified the ruling as unfair, referring to Sentsov not as a prisoner but as a Ukrainian hostage being held by the Russian military.

Honorary jury member of the 62nd San Sebastian International Film Festival in 2014.