Oleg Sentsov, a Ukrainian writer and filmmaker, was imprisoned in Russia after being sentenced in August 2015 to 20 years for terrorism along with Alexander Kolchenki who was sentenced to 10 years. They were accused of plotting terrorist attacks and setting up a terrorist cell in Crimea after it was annexed to Russia. Indeed, Sentsov was put on trial for plotting to blow up a Lenin statue and setting fire to offices of Crimea’s Russian Community organization and the regional office of Putin’s political party, charges described as absurd and fictitious by Sentsov lawyers.
At the trial, Sentsov claimed he was tortured, beaten up by his interrogators, and with a bag over his head told to confess, but he refused. “I don’t know what your beliefs can possibly be worth if you are not ready to suffer or die for them” said Sentsov.
Sentsov is a citizen of Russia and Ukraine and requested his extradition to serve jail time in Ukraine, but the Russian government denied the request after allegations from Russia’s Justice Ministry saying “Since Russia and Ukraine have not signed the international agreement regulating double citizenship issues and as Oleg Sentsov is a Russian citizen, this convict’s extradition to Ukraine is impossible under the Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons of 1983.”
On a letter smuggled out of the Siberian penal colony Sentsov is serving in he says:
“For three years I’ve been sitting in a Russian prison. For those three years a war has been conducted against my country. Here, in captivity, we are limited: and not even by freedom — this can no longer be taken — but by being of little help to our country while we’re in here. To be more precise, we can do one thing: hold on. There is no need to pull us out of here at all costs. This wouldn’t bring victory any closer. Yet using us as a weapon against the enemy will. You must know: we are not your weak point. If we’re supposed to become the nails in the coffin of a tyrant, I’d like to become one of those nails. Just know that this particular one will not bend.”
The PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award, presented from 1987 – 2015, was designed to honor individual writers who have fought courageously in the face of adversity for their right to freedom of expression, in 2016 the PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Award was founded to honor writers in prison every year.
This year it was awarded to Oleg Sentsov, whose first film was Gamer in 2011. Joined by Olga Zhurzhenko, they created the story of a young man wanting to escape his reality of impoverishment by winning an eSport tournament, the idea born from his own passion to eSports. The movie was well acclaimed and Oleg had already started a second feature, but he abandoned his project to coordinate relief efforts for Ukrainian soldiers trapped in their base by Russian troops.
“He’s been forced to sacrifice this promising career in film because of his decision to speak out, it’s just a very vivid illustration of the intolerance of dissent by Putin’s government,” said Suzanne Nossel, executive director of PEN America.
Next to Sentsov is a distinguished list of honorees, for example, Nasrin Sotoudeh who was arrested in 2010 for “spreading lies against the state,” “cooperating with the Center of Human Rights Defenders,” and “conspiracy to disturb order”. She was released in 2013 after receiving her award in 2011. Ilham Tohti, who was convicted on charges of Separatism and sentenced to life in prison in 2014, also received the award that same year. Thirty-seven of the 40 Freedom to Write Award winners have been released from prison within 18 months of their award.
