A public prosecutor at the North Caucasus District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don has read out the indictment against Ukrainian film director Oleh Sentsov, in a case over a Crimea terror plot, an Interfax correspondent reported from the courtroom.
“Sentsov is being charged with setting up and leading a terror group after being contacted by representatives from Right Sector (an extremist organization banned in Russia) in March 2014. The group was set up with the aim of destabilizing the Crimean authorities and law enforcement agencies to cause the republic to secede from Russia,” the state prosecutor said.
According to the indictment, Sentsov and other members of his terror group had been plotting to detonate improvised explosive devices near the Eternal Flame memorial and near a Lenin statue in Simferopol in the early hours of May 9, and torch the Simferopol offices of the Russian Community of Crimea, a public organization, and the United Russia Party on April 14 and 18, 2014, with the aim to terrorize local population.
Furthermore, Sentsov is being charged with possession of weapons and ammunition, as well as the acquisition and possession of explosive substances which were purported to be used in a terror attack.
After the indictment was read out, Sentsov pleaded not guilty to the charges.
“I plead not guilty. I consider this case political and fabricated,” he said.
It was reported earlier that on Tuesday the North Caucasus District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don had started the hearings of a criminal case against Ukrainian film director Oleh Sentsov, accused of plotting to stage terror attacks in Crimea
Sentsov has been charged with organizing and having a membership in a terrorist community, committing a terror attack, plotting a terror attack, attempting to unlawfully acquire explosives and the unlawful acquisition of explosive devices.
