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Director Oleg Sentsov receives the Sakharov Prize at the European Parliament in Strasbourg on November 26, 2019. FREDERICK FLORIN / AFP

The Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov, winner of the Sakharov Prize 2018, came to Strasbourg to receive the award from the hands of the Speaker of Parliament. He called on MEPs to be wary of Russia.

With our special correspondent in Strasbourg , Juliette Gheerbrant

Filmmaker Oleg Sentsov was personally awarded the Sakharov Prize for Human Rights, awarded to him by the European Parliament in 2018, while he was still in prison.

Before listening to him, the deputies were able to look at images of his incarceration which show him pale and thin, images also demonstrations of support. A support for which he thanked the Europeans and their elected officials. Europe, despite its problems, he said, remains an example.

►To read also: Oleg Sentsov: "We will never accept that Russia has taken Crimea"

" The most Euro-optimistic country in the world is Ukraine because we do not see any other model of development, we will not be able to survive as a country other than on the European voice, " said the filmmaker.

Do not give in to Vladimir Putin

Oleg Sentsov therefore called on the deputies not to yield to Vladimir Putin who wants, he says, to lead Europe as he sees fit.

" That's why every time one of you thinks of extending a friendly hand to Putin over our heads, think of the hundreds of young Ukrainians who are in prison and perhaps suffer torture at the same time. time I'm talking to you, said the filmmaker. Think of the Crimean Tatars who are arrested right now and whose homes are being searched, our young people in the trenches who risk their lives for our freedom, your freedom. "

Parliament Speaker David Sassoli paid tribute to the courage of Oleg Sentsov. He recalled that other recipients of the Sakharov Prize were still incarcerated, and called for their release, citing Iranian Nasrin Sotoudeh, released and then incarcerated and sentenced to 38 years in prison.

Sentenced to 20 years in prison by Russia for " preparing terrorist attacks " against Russian power in Crimea, in what Amnesty International has called an " unfair trial in a military court ", Oleg Sentsov was only released only last September following an exchange of prisoners between the Ukrainian and Russian powers.