25.8.2015, 13 Uhr

Akademiepräsidentin unterzeichnet Aufruf der Europäischen Filmakademie, Oleg Senzow sofort freizulassen

Der ukrainische Filmemacher wurde am 25. August 2015 von einem russischen Gericht wegen angeblicher terroristischer Straftaten zu 20 Jahren Lagerhaft verurteilt

Mehr als 1000 Mitglieder von Filmakademien, Berufsverbänden von Filmschaffenden und Filmhochschulen fordern von Präsident Putin und von den russischen Behörden die Freilassung des seit 11. Mai 2014 verhafteten und am 25. August 2015 verurteilten ukrainischen Filmemachers Oleg Senzow.
Jeanine Meerapfel, die Präsidentin der Akademie der Künste, hat den Protest der Europäischen Filmakademie mit unterzeichnet.

 

URGENT: FREE OLEG SENTSOV!

In the light of the latest proceedings in the case of the Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov and the fact that the prosecution is now calling for a 23-year sentence, we wish to support the initiative of the European Film Academy:

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,
Prof. Jeanine Meerapfel
President of the Academy of Arts, Berlin, Germany