A court in Russia has jailed Ukrainian film-maker Oleg Sentsov for 20 years for plotting terrorist acts in Crimea. Sentsov, 39, was arrested in May 2014 during a protest against Russia's annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula two months earlier.
A court in Russia has jailed Ukrainian film-maker Oleg Sentsov for 20 years for plotting terrorist acts in Crimea. Sentsov, 39, was arrested in May 2014 during a protest against Russia's annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula two months earlier.
He denies the charges against him and his cause has been taken up by other directors, including Mike Leigh, Stephen Daldry and Pedro Almodovar.
Russia denies claims that he is a political prisoner.
Another Crimea activist, Alexander Kolchenko, who was being tried with Sentsov and also denies the charges against him, was sentenced to 10 years.
After the verdict was read out, both defendants sang the Ukrainian national anthem in the military court in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don.
Sentsov, best known for his 2011 film Gamer, was accused of setting up a terrorist group. Prosecutors say he was involved in two attempted arson attacks in the city of Simferopol, ordered by extremist Ukrainian group Right Sector.
The Ukrainian government says he is being punished for being a Crimea-based pro-Ukrainian activist.
The director has rejected the authority of the court – one of two military courts in Russia – and has said he was beaten in jail for 24 hours in an attempt to force a confession.
But investigators refused to open a case on his allegations of torture, suggesting that his bruises were self-inflicted and that he was keen on sado-masochism, his lawyer said.