The chief director of the Odessa Opera and Ballet Theater Yevgeny Lavrenchuk was taken into custody in Naples, Italy, at the request of Russia for his extradition. This was reported on Monday, January 3, by the Ukrainian TV channels TSN and Hromadske with reference to the press secretary of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry Oleg Nikolenko.
According to him, Lavrenchuk was detained in Naples on December 17. The Italian court chose the Ukrainian as a preventive measure in the form of detention for the period of the Russian extradition request. The detainee was provided with a lawyer; he was also visited by the Ukrainian consul.
Lavrenchuk accused of fraud in Russia
Nikolenko did not name the reason for Russia’s request to arrest Lavrenchuk. According to TASS with reference to the Tagansky District Court of Moscow, the director was arrested in absentia by the Moscow court on charges of major fraud.
“The Tagansky Court of Moscow granted the investigation’s petition for the arrest in absentia of Yevgeny Viktorovich Lavrenchuk, accused under Part 3 of Art. 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (large-scale fraud), ”the agency was told in court. The decision was made in July 2020.
The details of the case were not disclosed. The punishment under this article is up to six years in prison.
Lavrenchuk worked in Russia for a long time. He was the founder and artistic director of the Polish Theater in Moscow and the School of Acting and Directing at the International Theater Center in Moscow.
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The most famous public figures advocating for the release of Sentsov
Prize and resolution from the European Parliament
Oleg Sentsov was awarded the 2018 Sakharov European Parliament Prize for Freedom of Thought. The European Parliament has previously expressed solidarity with the Ukrainian director, adopting a resolution in June demanding his release from a Russian prison. Many other large organizations and cultural figures also spoke out in support of Sentsov.
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The most famous public figures advocating for the release of Sentsov
Jury of the Venice Festival
In September 2018, the jury of the 75th Venice Film Festival (pictured), led by two-time Oscar winner Guillermo Del Toro, spoke out for the release of the Ukrainian director. Sentsov “was imprisoned and tortured … after he clearly did not respect the right to defense,” the letter said. The jury also included actress Naomi Watts and Austrian actor Christoph Waltz.
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The most famous public figures advocating for the release of Sentsov
Acts of support from the mayor of Paris
The Mayor of Paris Anna Hidalgo also took part in the July campaign for the release of the Ukrainian director. Then the participants placed a banner with a photo of Sentsov on the building of the city hall. And in September, Hidalgo announced that he had become an honorary citizen of the French capital. “This is a symbolic act. An act of hope,” the mayor of Paris wrote on Twitter.
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The most famous public figures advocating for the release of Sentsov
OSCE Appeal to Lavrov
In June 2018, the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Harlem Désir (pictured), sent a letter to the Russian Foreign Ministry to Sergei Lavrov calling on Moscow to release the Ukrainian director. “I added him to custody unreasonable,” Desir wrote.
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The most famous public figures advocating for the release of Sentsov
Stephen King on the first day of the 2018 World Cup
One of the authoritative writers Stephen King on the first day of the 2018 World Cup in Russia recalled Oleg Sentsov’s hunger strike on his Twitter profile. “Join my fight for the release of this Ukrainian director, unjustly convicted in Russia.
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The most famous public figures advocating for the release of Sentsov
Project with the participation of Johnny Depp
At the end of 2016, Hollywood star Johnny Depp took part in the “Imprisoned for Art” campaign. Within its framework, he was photographed for a T-shirt with the appeal “Free Oleg Sentsov! Art is not a crime.”
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The most famous public figures advocating for the release of Sentsov
“Oleg, live!”
In May 2018, Nobel Prize Laureate in Literature Svetlana Aleksievich signed an appeal by 130 scientists and cultural figures in support of the director. And in July, when the Belarusian PEN Center announced its joining the campaign for the release of Sentsov, she said: “We know that freedom is a long way. Oleg, live! We need you.”
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The most famous public figures advocating for the release of Sentsov
French artists
In August, Le Mond published a collective statement by more French artists led by the country’s culture minister, Françoise Nissen. “To do nothing means to let Sentsov die, it will be a rejection of our principles,” the letter emphasized. Among the signatories was director Jean-Luc Godard (pictured), winner of an honorary Oscar for his contribution to the development of cinema.
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The most famous public figures advocating for the release of Sentsov
Relay hunger strike in Paris.
In the second half of September, in front of the building of the Russian Embassy, activists and art workers alternate hunger strike, replacing each other every 24 hours. Goncourt Prize laureate American-French writer Jonathan Littell (pictured) also took part in it. “The purpose of our actions is to raise the political price of the death of Oleg Sentsov,” he said in an interview with DW.
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The most famous public figures advocating for the release of Sentsov
Pulitzer and Booker Laureates
The June appeal of the PEN Center for the release of Oleg Sentsov was signed by about 50 cultural workers. Among them are the Booker Prize laureate writer Salman Rushdie and the Pulitzer Prize laureate Art Spiegelman (pictured).
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The most famous public figures advocating for the release of Sentsov
Appeal of Zvyagintsev, Khamatova and others to Putin
A number of Russian cultural figures also supported the Ukrainian director in June 2018. “We need to soften the political climate in the country, make peace with our neighbors. I have pardoned Oleg Sentsov, we ask you,” – said in an appeal to Vladimir Putin, which was signed by directors Andrei Zvyagintsev (pictured) and Alexander Sokurov, actress Chulpan Khamatova, TV presenters Vladimir Pozner and Ksenia Sobchak.
Author: Ilya Koval
