Appealing to the Nobel Committee, the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada has submitted their proposal to nominate Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Some 245 MPs voted for the relevant resolution on Tuesday’s meeting.
“The Verkhovna Rada nominates Oleg Sentsov for awarding the Nobel Peace Prize proceeding from the fact that Oleg Sentsov during the entire period of illegal detention [four years], risking his own life, demonstrates the example of courageous, not violent resistance in the struggle for basic human rights and freedoms,” Interfax Ukraine quotes the parliament’s statement.
In early August, the world-known Polish politician Lech Wałęsa nominated the Ukrainian film director for the Nobel Peace Prize in the run-up to the anniversary of the Solidarity trade union that paved the way for the peaceful changes in Poland and the liberation from totalitarianism in Eastern Europe.
A week ago, the European People’s Party, the biggest in the European Parliament, put him on the list of candidates for the European Parliament’s 2018 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.
The charge was based on the testimony of Alexey Chyrny and Gennady Afanasiev. In court Afanasiev withdrew evidence saying that he had been tortured in jail. It is impossible to swap Sentsov for any Russian prisoner in Ukraine, because after the annexation of Crimea Russia started considering the Ukrainian director a citizen of Russia.
The Ukrainian film director, who demands that the Russian authorities release all Ukrainians jailed in Russia and Crimea, went on hunger strike on May, 14. There are 64 Ukrainian prisoners in Russia and Crimea. The 42-year-old prisoner is still not going to ask president Vladimir Putin for pardon. He has recently made his will regarding his works.
