Once jailed Ukraine filmmaker Sentsov meets Trudeau, MPs in Ottawa

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OTTAWA — A Ukrainian filmmaker who spent five years in a Russian prison for sharing his story and standing up for his country during its fight with the Kremlin got thanks Tuesday from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Trudeau offered the praise to Oleg Sentsov and reiterated a condemnation of Russia as he welcomed the one-time political prisoner to Ottawa for meetings.

Sentsov was released in September after being jailed in what is widely viewed as a vendetta by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Trudeau said he wanted to reiterate Canada’s support for Ukraine, “our condemnation of Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea and its disruptive actions in the region, its illegal arrests of political prisoners.”

Sentsov was released as part of a larger prisoner-swap between Ukraine and Russia after serving part of his 20-year sentence in a prison colony in Russia’s Arctic, for conspiring to commit acts of terrorism — charges he denies.

Amnesty International has said Sentsov was subjected to an “extremely cynical show trial” and should never have spent a moment in prison. Sentsov staged a 144-day hunger strike to protest the jailings of dozens of Ukrainians in Russia.

Sentsov is a vocal opponent of Russia’s 2014 annexation of his native Crimea region in Ukraine.

“I very much thank you for your advocacy, for your strong voice and for your commitment to sharing your story in a way that advances the cause of a strong Ukraine,” Trudeau told the filmmaker in his Parliament Hill office

Two months after his release, Sentsov was awarded Europe’s highest human-rights honour, the Sakharov Prize, named for the celebrated Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov.

Sentsov is to take part in a special meeting of MPs and senators, including Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, who had welcomed the release of Sentsov, journalist Roman Sushchenko and the 24 Ukrainian sailors detained by Russia in November 2018 in the Kerch Strait.

“Here’s a real hero who has stood in the face of Putin’s kangaroo courts during his hunger strike,” said Conservative MP James Bezan, whose family is of Ukrainian descent.

“He endured the incredibly brutal prison system that they have in Russia, and never wavered in his support for an independent Ukraine. Crimea is Ukranian territory and he was innocent.”