September 16, 2016

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“For three years I’ve been sitting in a Russian prison. For those three years a war has been conducted against my country. The enemy is fighting like a coward, vilely, pretending he has nothing to do with it. No one believes him now, but that doesn’t stop him.

“War is never pretty, but truth is on our side. We attacked no one and are just defending ourselves. However, there are other enemies besides the known, outside ones. They are smaller and on the inside, here, under our skin, almost native. …Some of them are leftovers from old times, times of poverty and fear. Some desire just to live in the old ways but in a new guise: newly rich and empowered. …Each enemy, the larger and the smaller one, has different goals but we are on paths different from the ones they’re taking. …I know who will win. The desire for freedom and progress is unstoppable. …

“Here, in captivity, we are limited: and not even by freedom – this can no longer be taken – but by being of little help to our country while we’re in here. To be more precise, we can do one thing: hold on.

“There is no need to pull us out of here at all costs. This wouldn’t bring victory any closer. Yet using us as a weapon against the enemy will. You must know: we are not your weak point. If we’re supposed to become the nails in the coffin of a tyrant, I’d like to become one of those nails. Just know that this particular one will not bend.”

– Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov, who is serving a 20-year sentence, writing in a letter smuggled out of Russian prison in Yakutia, as cited by The Guardian on September 12. Mr. Sentsov has been illegally imprisoned by Russia since 2014 and was convicted by a Russian court in 2015 on trumped-up charges of being part of a terrorist conspiracy.

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