Council of Europe

Secretary General of the Council of Europe Thorbjorn Jagland will submit a petition to Russian President Vladimir Putin for pardoning Ukrainian filmmaker Oleh Sentsov, illegally convicted in Russia.

On Monday, Jagland will file a petition for pardoning Sentsov, the Ukrainian-language service of Germany's Deutsche Welle (DW) reported, referring to Director of Communications at the Council of Europe, Deputy Secretary General Daniel Holtgen.

Read alsoHunger-striking Sentsov's health "very weak" - lawyer

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According to the CoE representative, the Secretary General, as the head of the Council, has the right to do so in accordance with the European Convention on Human Rights.

It is noted that on June 20, Jagland visited Moscow, where he met with President Putin, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Russia's Ombudsperson Tatiana Moskalkova.

Holtgen noted that Jagland did not raise the issue of the release of Ukrainian political prisoners during talks with Putin. However, he urged the Russian officials to release Sentsov for humanitarian reasons at the meetings with Lavrov and Moskalkova.

He added that the Russian side listened to his appeal, but did not express any support or objection.

Read alsoPutin, Guterres did not discuss release of Ukrainian political prisoners – Kremlin

Following this, the Secretary General decided to personally apply for the release of Sentsov.

UNIAN memo. Sentsov was detained by FSB operatives in Crimea in the spring of 2014. He was transferred to Russia, where he was tried on trumped-up charges of plotting terrorist attacks and arson of party offices on the peninsula. The Russian court in August 2015 sentenced Sentsov to 20 years in prison.

He is kept in a colony located in a distant town of Labytnangi in Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Area, Russia.

On May 14, Sentsov went on a hunger strike demanding the release of all Ukrainian political prisoners.

On June 9, President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko spoke by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss the issue of exchanging detained persons.

It is noted that an agreement has been reached for ombudspersons of both countries to visit Russian nationals who are imprisoned in Ukraine and Ukrainian citizens detained in Russia.

On June 15, Ukraine Parliament's Ombudsperson Liudmyla Denisova was denied access to Sentsov, as well as to Ukrainian activist Mykola Karpiuk on June 16 and Ukrainian journalist Roman Sushchenko on June 18.