--- description: His trial on terrorism charges was denounced by both the U.S. and the E.U., while Ukrainian officials say it was politically motivated title: Russia Jails Ukrainian Filmmaker Oleg Sentsov for 20 Years image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6e0f021ce0a7bcae/698860d8f887dce1d2e920d6/ap_779154553414.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [russia](/tag/russia/) ## russia Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Russia Sentences Ukrainian Filmmaker Oleg Sentsov to 20 Years in Prison ## Video: Timeline: Crisis in Crimea [Watch (HLS stream): Timeline: Crisis in Crimea](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/G5aiotwm.m3u8) (3:23)  _Published 2014-03-08. As the situation continues to unfold over the coming days and weeks, Russians and Ukrainians will confront hard choices about how far to go in challenging one another and how much suffering each nation can endure._ by [Joanna Plucinska](/author/joanna-plucinska/) ## Joanna Plucinska Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 26, 2015 6:38 AM CUT  Oleg Sentsov gestures as the verdict is delivered, as he stands behind bars at a court in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, on Aug. 25, 2015 Oleg Sentsov gestures as the verdict is delivered, as he stands behind bars at a court in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, on Aug. 25, 2015STR—AP by [Joanna Plucinska](/author/joanna-plucinska/) ## Joanna Plucinska Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 26, 2015 6:38 AM CUT Oleg Sentsov, a Ukrainian filmmaker best known for the 2011 movie [_Gámer_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2217809/ "undefined"), was sentenced to 20 years in a Russian prison on charges of terrorism on Tuesday in the city of Rostov-on-Don, the BBC reports. Sentsov, a vocal pro-Ukrainian activist, was arrested in May of 2014, and charged with organizing two arson attacks in the eastern Ukrainian city of Simferopol, the BBC says. Sentsov denies the charges, and the case has been denounced by both the E.U. and by the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Geoffrey Pyatt, who said the trial had been farcical. Ukrainian officials insist that Sentsov — who says he was beaten in an attempt to extract a confession — is being persecuted for protesting Russia’s annexation of Crimea. Another activist, Aleksandr Kolchenko, was sentenced to 10 years in prison on similar charges. He also denies the charges, the [BBC](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34049595 "undefined") reports. \[[_BBC_](http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34049595 "undefined")_\]_ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4010879/russia-oleg-sentsov-gamer-ukrainian-filmmaker/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4010879/russia-oleg-sentsov-gamer-ukrainian-filmmaker/"},"headline":"Russia Sentences Ukrainian Filmmaker Oleg Sentsov to 20 Years in Prison","datePublished":"2015-08-26T06:38:53.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T10:26:28.552Z","description":"Washington and Brussels have vigorously denounced the trial","url":"https://time.com/4010879/russia-oleg-sentsov-gamer-ukrainian-filmmaker/","keywords":["russia","Ukraine","Crimea"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6e0f021ce0a7bcae/698860d8f887dce1d2e920d6/ap_779154553414.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Joanna Plucinska","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/joanna-plucinska/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6e0f021ce0a7bcae/698860d8f887dce1d2e920d6/ap_779154553414.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Oleg Sentsov","caption":"Oleg Sentsov","creditText":"STR—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/russia/","name":"russia"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4010879/russia-oleg-sentsov-gamer-ukrainian-filmmaker/","name":"Russia Sentences Ukrainian Filmmaker Oleg Sentsov to 20 Years in Prison"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Timeline: Crisis in Crimea","description":"As the situation continues to unfold over the coming days and weeks, Russians and Ukrainians will confront hard choices about how far to go in challenging one another and how much suffering each nation can endure.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/G5aiotwm/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-03-08T00:20:47.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/G5aiotwm.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4010879/russia-oleg-sentsov-gamer-ukrainian-filmmaker/","duration":"PT3M23S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4010879/russia-oleg-sentsov-gamer-ukrainian-filmmaker/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```