Lavrov: Putin and Merkel discussed the fate of Sentsov
Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel discussed the issue of director Oleh Sentsov during a meeting in Meseberg on August 18, stated Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov at a news conference following the talks with his German counterpart Heiko Maas, reported TASS.
“We have been informing people on his health condition. He is under the constant supervision of doctors. This question purely concerns the humanitarian sphere. There are legislative procedures in the Russian Federation that are applicable in this case… All those who are worried about his fate are aware of it. This issue was discussed by the Russian President and German Chancellor at a recent meeting in Meseberg,” Lavrov said.
The meeting between Putin and Merkel took place on August 18 in Meseberg near Berlin. After the meeting, Dmitry Peskov, the press secretary of the Russian President, said that the leaders of the two countries “exchanged views on the situation in Ukraine” but he did not say anything about Sentsov.
Before Putin’s arrival in Germany, Katrin Göring-Eckardt, the head of the Alliance 90/The Greens faction in the Bundestag, called on German Chancellor Angela Merkel to speak to call onRussian President Vladimir Putin to free Ukrainian film director Oleh Sentsov , who is on a hunger strike in a Russian penal colony.
Sentsov and the Crimean activist, Alexander Kolchenko were detained by representatives of Russian special services in the Crimea in May 2014 on charges of organizing terrorist attacks on the peninsula. In August 2015, the North Caucasian District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don sentenced Sentsov to 20 years in a penal colony on a charge of terrorist activities in the territory of the Crimea. Kolchenko was sentenced to 10 years in the colony. Neither of them admitted their guilt.
On May 14, Sentsov went on a hunger strike demanding the release of all the Ukrainian political prisoners from Russian prisons.