Ukrainian film director Oleh Sentsov plans to create a human rights non-governmental organization.
“Today I’ve decided to create a non-governmental organization. I will be engaged in a fairly wide range of public work, human rights. Perhaps a separate fund will be created to finance the organization. Maybe I will even call it my name to raise money under my name,” Sentsov said after a Ukrainian ID Awards ceremony during which he received an award in Kyiv on Oct. 21.
According to him, the name of the organization has not been decided yet.
Sentsov also noted that it was necessary to continue putting pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin until he freed all Ukrainians illegally imprisoned in the Russian Federation and in occupied Donbas.
“Please do not forget about those who remain in prison – minimum one hundred people in Russia, most of whom are Crimean Tatars, and 227 – also at least or maybe more – are in Donbas prisons. Putin released the most prominent, most famous ones to get rid of pressure put on him. I want us to continue pressuring him until he frees all,” Sentsov said.
Sentsov emphasized that he was not going into politics. “I have repeatedly stated that the political career … this issue has been undecided. Yet, it has been decided on social activities,” he said.
Sentsov was detained in Russia-occupied Crimea in 2014, being charged with creating a terrorist organization on the peninsula. A court in Russia’s Rostov-on-Don in August 2015 sentenced him to 20 years in a maximum security colony. He denied all the charges.
On Sept. 7, Sentsov, together with 34 Ukrainians, returned to Kyiv as part of a large-scale prisoner swap between Ukraine and Russia.
Ukrainian ID Awards was founded in 2018, Sentsov became its first winner in June 2018. The prize was awarded to him for his resilience in the fight for ideas of freedom.
