Sentsov sentenced to 20 years, Kolchenko to 10 years in prison for terrorism

The military court in Russia’s city of Rostov-on-Don on Tuesday sentenced Ukrainian film director Oleh Sentsov to 20 years in prison and Ukrainian activist Oleksandr Kolchenko to 10 years in prison, both are accused of terrorism and will be kept in a high-security penal colony, according to an UNIAN correspondent in the Russian 

"Under Part 3 of Article 69 of the Criminal Code of Russia, the court issued a final indictment against Sentsov for a set of crimes, ruling imprisonment for a term of 20 years in a high-security penal colony, Kolchenko will be imprisoned for a term of 10 years in a high-security penal colony," the judge announced.

As UNIAN reported earlier, Ukrainian film director Sentsov was arrested by Russian security service officers in the annexed Crimea in May 2014 together with pro-Ukrainian activists Oleksandr Kolchenko, Oleksiy Cherniy and Hennadiy Afanasiyev. They all were charged with preparation of terrorist acts.

Both denied their guilt from the day of their arrest.

During the trial, Sentsov and one of the main witnesses, Hennadiy Afanasiyev, who had already been sentenced to seven years in connection with the case, said that they had been forced into making incriminating statements. Afanasiyev refused to testify against Sentsov.

The prosecutor demanded that Sentsov be sentenced to 23-year imprisonment in a penal colony, Kolchenko to 12-year imprisonment in a penal colony.