Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov, who is illegally imprisoned in the distant Russian republic of Yakutia, where -35ºC is considered a ‘relatively warm’ weather, is writing screenplays and awaiting a prisoner exchange to return to Ukraine.
His lawyer Dmitriy Dinze wrote in facebook: “Oleg sends his greetings to everyone, he has already finished 5 scenarios and one novel, he’s all in the creative process. In general, the situation in the colony seems to be pretty normal, the colony chief is an adequate person. Oleg has little problems so far. However, letters don’t come regularly, there are many delays and there are really not many of them.”
According to Dinze, Sentsov refused to talk to journalists. “He told that there is nothing to say or write. Of course, he is awaiting an exchange and is hoping for Ukraine. He greets everyone with the New Year and sends his hugs,” Dinze wrote.
On 25 August 2015, Ukrainian film director Oleп Sentsov was sentenced to 20 years of prison and anti-fascist activist Oleksandr Kolchenko to 10 years of prison. Human rights experts have called the case a “show trial of opponents” and likened it to Stalinist trials of the times of the most bloody repressions of the USSR.
Read more: The Sentsov-Kolchenko case: what you need to know
It’s possible to write to Sentsov via the address:
Oleg Gennadievich (born 1976), penal colony #1, 25 Ochichenko Str., Yakutsk, 677004, Russia. To make possible the successful arrival of your letter, please write in Russian (read more here and find addresses of the other 35 Ukrainian hostages of the Kremlin here: http://letmypeoplego.org.ua/en/letter/).
Related: Unbroken after a year of show trials. Oleg Sentsov’s most inspiring quotes
