18:23 25.06.2018

Russian penitentiary system recognizes Sentsov as Ukrainian national - lawyer

2 min read
Russian penitentiary system recognizes Sentsov as Ukrainian national - lawyer

 The Russian Justice Ministry Federal Penitentiary Service's (FSIN) branch in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District has confirmed in documentary form that Oleh Sentsov, who is serving a sentence in Russia, is a Ukrainian citizen.

Dmitry Dinze, Sentsov's lawyer, posted a photocopy of the corresponding certificate on Facebook. It was issued on October 10, 2017 and received by the Ukrainian consulate in Yekaterinburg on January 11, 2018.

"Convict Sentsov, O.H., is a citizen of Ukraine. He arrived with a convoy on October 9, 2017. His personal record includes Passport EC 477125, issued on November 12, 1997," the document reads.

The certificate contains the following details of the addressee "18 Leontyevsky Lane, Moscow. The Consulate of the Republic of Ukraine." The incoming correspondence stamp reads "The Consulate of Ukraine in Yekaterinburg."

As reported, the North Caucasus Military District Court in Rostov-on-Don in August 2015 ruled to find Sentsov, who was detained in Crimea in 2014, guilty of setting up a terrorist group in the peninsula, committing two acts of terror, and preparing another one and sentenced him to 20 years in a high-security penal colony. Kyiv repeatedly said that the case was politically motivated.

In early May 2016, Sentsov filled in the forms for a transfer to Ukraine to serve the rest of his term there. On June 1, 2016 the Russian Supreme Court refused to consider an appeal of his sentence. On October 21 of the same year, Ukrainian Deputy Justice Minister Serhiy Petukhov revealed that Russia had refused to hand Sentsov over to Ukraine for further incarceration in his home country. The Russian Justice Ministry said in reply that the convicts in the Sentsov case "acquired Russian citizenship" in accordance with the Russian law of March 21, 2014, which stipulated that those residents of Crimea who failed to waive their Russian citizenship within one month would become citizens automatically.

Sentsov himself has repeatedly said that he never changed his Ukrainian citizenship or became a Russian citizen.

On May 14 of this year, Sentsov went on a hunger strike, demanding that all Ukrainians held in Russia be released.

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