In mid-May this year, Oleg Sentsov, Ukraine's film director, launched a hunger strike in Russian prison. He has been incarcerated since 2014, suspected of having planned terrorist acts and categorized by human rights organizations as political prisoners. Sentsov is not alone in being a political prisoner from Ukraine in Russia.

And it was to note how Russia imprisoned Ukrainian citizens on political grounds that Oleg Sentsov began his hunger strike last spring, when the world's eyes were directed at Russia as the host of the soccer world cup. The hunger strike was halted in early October following threats of forced feeding.

Invited to the awards ceremony

The European Parliament now chooses to award Oleg Sentsov the 2018 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought. A civil rights award given to him or her has made remarkable efforts to defend human and fundamental rights against intolerance, fanaticism and oppression.

"With courage and determination and by putting his own life in danger, filmmaker Oleg Sentsov has become a symbol in the fight for political prisoners in Russia, as well as in the rest of the world, to be released," said Parliament's President Antonio Tajani during the announcement during Thursday:

- By awarding the Sentsov Sakharov Prize, the European Parliament expresses its solidarity with him. We want him to be released immediately. His struggle reminds us of our duty to defend human rights worldwide and in any case, ”Tajani said further.

This means that Sentsov is invited to Strasbourg for an award ceremony on December 12. Something that seems impossible given that the director is isolated in prison. Amnesty international and International PEN, among others, have drawn strong criticism of Russia's imprisonment of Sentsov, and how he is treated in captivity. International demands for his release have been addressed repeatedly.

"Seen as traitor"

- So far there have been no official comments or reactions to the price, there has been neutral news. In social media there are a lot of reactions, where you see Sentsov as a traitor and say that it is symbolic that you have given the prize to him - why not give the prize to other terrorists, but only terrorists operating in Russia, says Elin Jönsson, SVT's Foreign Correspondent.

Oleg Sentsov has won awards and accolades for his films both in his home country Ukraine and internationally. His most famous film is Gamer (2011), which is about a young computer-playing guy in a Ukrainian small town.