Four days before the appeal against Oleg Sentsov’s 20-year sentence at the Russian Supreme Court, prolific members of the European Film Academy, among them EFA President Wim Wenders and Chairwoman Agnieszka Holland, address Russian director Nikita Mikhalkov, president of Russia’s association of filmmakers, to join in the international protest and help the Ukrainian filmmaker.
Following his opposition to the annexation of Crimea by Russia, in May 2014 the Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov was arrested by the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB) and deported to Moscow. Although the key witness had retracted his testimony as given "under duress”, the trial based on the accusation of Oleg Sentsov having committed “crimes of a terrorist nature” was continued. Supporters across Europe, institutional and individual, have gathered thousands of signatures supporting an EFA letter to the President of Russia and Russian authorities asking for Sentsov’s immediate release. But at the end of what Amnesty International describes as “an unfair trial in a military court” he was sentenced to 20 years in jail. The Russian Supreme Court will now hear the appeal against the sentence on Tuesday, 24 November.
A couple of days ago, the Polish daily Gazeta Wyborza also published an open letter by Daniel Olbrychski. The Polish actor wrote to his “Russian brother” Nikita Mikhalkov as the one filmmaker closest to the Russian president and to this particular case, calling on him to “do something” and reminding him that “chiefly what remains after us, when we have passed, is the good we do selflessly for others.”
Here is the text of the new EFA letter:
Dear Nikita Mikhalkov,
We, your undersigning colleagues, are addressing ourselves to you in your capacity as President of the Council of The Union of Filmmakers of the Russian Federation.
On Tuesday, 24 November, the filmmaking community of Europe will look to the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation in Moscow where Oleg Sentsov’s appeal against his sentence of 20 years in prison will take place.
There has been massive protest from all over Europe including Russia and from around the World against this sentence which is violating Oleg Sentsov’s human rights. This verdict is a clear expression of what we all should prevent: The damage of the freedom of speech.
It is our responsibility – as filmmakers and as human beings - to stand up for human rights and the freedom of speech. Please raise your voice and support us in our support of Oleg Sentsov.
Agnieszka Holland
Volker Schlöndorff
Andrzej Wajda
Wim Wenders
Berlin, 20 November 2015
