ROSTOV-ON-DON: A Russian military court convicted a prominent Ukrainian filmmaker on Tuesday of conspiring to commit terror attacks and sentenced him to 20 years in prison in what critics called a politically motivated show trial.

The court in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don said Oleg Sentsov had set up a terror cell in the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed last year, and was plotting attacks. He will serve time in a maximum-security prison. Such lengthy prison sentences are rare in Russia even for politically tainted trials.

The 39-year-old Crimean native was tried along with Crimean activist Alexander Kolchenko, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison. As the judge wrapped up the session, the two men smiled and began to sing the Ukrainian national anthem.

“Glory to Ukraine”, Sentsov said at the end, to which someone in the courtroom gave the traditional response: “Glory to the heroes”.

Sentsov was a vocal opponent of Russia’s 2014 annexation of the Black Sea peninsula. Critics have dismissed his prosecution by Russia as retaliation for his pro-Ukrainian position.

“The whole trial was designed to send a message. It played into Russia’s propaganda war against Ukraine and was redolent of Stalinist-era show trials of dissidents,” said Heather McGill of Amnesty International.

The international rights group, whose representatives observed the trial, said it was “rife with irregularities, including shocking revelations about the use of torture and other ill treatment to extract testimony”.

Published in Dawn, August 26th, 2015

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