‘Talk: Oleg Sentsov’

As part of Ukrainian Spring an open online discussion with Oleg Sentsov, director, writer, former political prisoner and social activist will take place. His debut film Gamer premiered at the Rotterdam Film Festival in 2011, but in May 2014, after Russia's annexation of Crimea, Sentsov was arrested by the FSB, charged with planning terrorist attacks. He was brought to Moscow. Despite a complete lack of evidence, he was unlawfully sentenced to 20 years of imprisonment, giving rise to a global campaign for his release, #SaveOlegSentsov. While in prison, Sentsov wrote a collection of short stories and the novel, Buy This Book - It's Funny. In 2018, he received the European Parliament's Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, before being finally released on 7 September 2019, as part of a prisoner exchange deal between Russia and Ukraine. 
The discussion will be moderated by Aude Merlin, professor of political science, specialist in post-Soviet studies and active human rights campaigner.