Ukraine nominates Sentsov for the Nobel Peace Prize
The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has decided to nominate the film director Oleh Sentsov, who is currently in a Russian prison, for the Nobel Peace Prize.
245 people's deputies voted for this decision.
"Given the courageous behavior of Oleh Sentsov, who is unlawfully detained in the Russian Federation for 4 years, for his heroic non-violent protest against the illegal occupation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, the city of Sevastopol and certain regions of Donetsk and Luhansk by the Russian Federation, for upholding human rights, for willingness to sacrifice his life for the sake of others' freedom, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine nominates Oleh Sentsov for the Nobel Peace Prize, " reads the approved statement of the Verkhovna Rada.
Oleh Sentsov is serving a 20-year prison term in a Labytnangi penal colony in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District in Russia.
He was detained in May 2014, together with another Crimean, Alexander Kolchenko, 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, while Kolchenko received 10 years in prison. Neither of them admits their guilt.
On May 16, Sentsov announced an indefinite hunger strike demanding the release of all Ukrainian political prisoners who are detained in Russia. He is continuing it up till now.
In August, UN experts said that Sentsov's life was in imminent danger and urged the Russian authorities to release him "urgently without preconditions." On September 10, it became known that Sentsov made a will.
At the same time, Russia says that the state of the Ukrainian is satisfactory.