Ukrainian High-Profile Hostage Testifies On Horror Of Russian Torture

"I've been kidnapped on May, 10 near my house and brought to ex-SBU quarters. They beat me with their legs and batons. Then they were choking me with plastic bags. Four times. I've seen it before in movies. They stripped me down and threatened to rape me with a baton. And then to bury me in a forest", testified Oleh Sentsov during a trial on him in the North Caucasus District Military Court, Rostov-on-Don, Russia on August 6, 2015.

Sentsov is a prominent Ukrainian filmmaker whose film The Gamer (2011) earnt him critical acclaim. When Russian soldiers entered Crimea is March 2014, Sentsov, who was born in Simferopol, decided to help and support local activists and Ukrainian soldiers on the peninsula. The new Russian authorities arrested Senstov in Simferopol, Crimea on 11 May, 2014, for allegedly being a member of the ‘terrorist group‘, Right Sector, a Ukrainian far-right political party.

Prosecutors accuse Sentsov of organizing terrorist acts on the Crimean territory, "I have already stated that I regard this court hearing as illegitimate. Kolchenko and I, we are Ukrainian citizens, detained at Ukrainian territory by Russian special forces. And we are being tried on the basis of falsificated case. But I don't dislike you or any other hearing participant".

// Video by Ihor Khoroshylov. Filmed 08.06.2015.