Famous left-wing film maker Ken Loach has again joined others, in calling on Russian President Vladimir Putin to order the release of Ukrainian director Oleg Sentsov, who could face up to 23 years on charges of “plotting terrorist acts” in Crimea.

Sentsov is being held along with well known anti-fascist activist Oleksandr Kolchenko – ludicrously accused of being a part of the Right Sector. Both were arrested in Crimea following its annexation by Russia.

The show trial is ongoing despite the key witness for the prosecution Gennady Afanasyev having retracted his testimony as ‘given under pressure and duress,’ The renowned Memorial Human Rights Centre has recognized Afanasyev as a political prisoner and warned that he is in danger following his retraction of testimony against Oleg Sentsov and left-wing activist Kolchenko.

Sentsov stood before a Russian court in Rostov-on-Don on 19th August to offer a defiant closing statement in his trial with a co-defendant Kolchenko. In his remarks, he challenged the legitimacy of an occupied Crimea “governed by criminals” and he spurned a path of “cowardice” that might accommodate or excuse Moscow’s actions in Ukraine. A full video of his speech from the dock is available here – Ukrainian Film Director’s Defiant Court Statement: ‘The Greatest Sin Is Cowardice’.

European Filmmakers Open Letter for Immediate Release of Oleg Sentsov

To

Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin – President of Russia

Sergey Evgenyevich Naryshkin – Chairman of the State Duma of the Russian Federation

Alexander Wassiljewitsch Bortnikow – Director of the FSB

Vladimir Aleksandrovich Kolokoltsev – Russian Minister of Internal Affairs

Yuriy Yakovlevich Chaika – Prosecutor General From the moment when we learned that the Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov was arrested by the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB) in his house in Simferopol on 11 May 2014, we have been deeply worried. We have followed the proceedings from a trial repeatedly being postponed until over one year later when it finally opened in Rostov-on-Don. Having observed the trial and especially the fact that the key witness for the prosecution has retracted his testimony as “given under pressure and duress”, we are shocked that the accusation of Oleg Sentsov having committed “crimes of a terrorist nature” is still being upheld. In the light of these circumstances, we respectfully call upon you

• to ensure the safety of Oleg Sentsov;

• to have the charges dropped due to insufficient evidence;

• to have the detained released immediately and unconditionally;

• to ensure complete rehabilitation of the detained;

• to instigate a full, prompt and impartial investigation into the apparently arbitrary detention by the FSB and Oleg Sentsov’s statements about torture in order to bring all those responsible to justice. Yours faithfully, Stephen Daldry, director, UK

Mike Downey, producer, UK

Agnieszka Holland, director, Poland

Dariusz Jablonski, producer, Poland

Aki Kaurismäki, director, Finland

Mike Leigh, director, UK

Ken Loach, director, UK

Wojciech Marczewski, director, Poland

Daniel Olbrychski, actor, Poland

Volker Schlöndorff, director, Germany

Béla Tarr, director, Hungary

Bertrand Tavernier, director, France

Andrzej Wajda, director, Poland

Wim Wenders, director, Germany

Krzysztof Zanussi, director, Poland The European Film Academy also thanks its friends at the Polish Film Academy who Support this letter: Jacek Bławut, DoP/director

Ryszard Bugajski, director/screenwriter

Feliks Falk, director/screenwriter

Janusz Głowacki, screenwriter

Jerzy Hoffman, director/screenwriter

Andrzej Jakimowski, director/screenwriter/producer

Violetta Kaminska, producer

Jan Kidawa-Błoński, director/screenwriter

Joanna Kos-Krauze, director/screenwriter

Stefan Laudyn, festival director

Olena Leonenko, actress

Marcel Łoziński, director/screenwriter

Janusz Majewski, director/screenwriter

Paweł Pawlikowski, director

Ewa Piaskowska, producer

Jerzy Skolimowski, director/screenwriter

Allan Starski, production designer

Małgorzata Szumowska, director/screenwriter

Izabela Wojcik, producer

Andrzej Żuławski, director

Berlin, 18 August 2015

see also:

• Gennady Afanasyev declared a political prisoner, with Sentsov & Kolchenko

• Afanasyev beaten after retracting testimony in Russia’s show trial of Oleg Sentsov

• Russia’s Crimean Show Trial: “No illusions” about Sentsov & Kolchenko acquittal

• A Rotten Plot: Oleg Sentsov refuses to take part in Russian ‘terrorism trial’ farce

• Tortured for testimony against Sentsov-Kolchenko in Russia’s ‘Crimean terrorist plot’ trial

• Sentsov & Kolchenko declared political prisoners as rot exposed in Russia’s Crimean ‘terrorist’ trial

• Russia’s Sentsov-Kolchenko trial in tatters: Afanasyev retracts testimony given under duress

• Sentsov & Kolchenko face 20-year sentences for non-existent ’terrorism’

• Trial of Oleg Sentsov and Oleksandr Kolchenko: First Day

• Wish Oleg Sentsov Freedom on his Birthday!

• Sentsov-Kolchenko trial, Crimea and what Russia has to hide

• Trial begins of Sentsov and Kolchenko as OSCE demands their release