FILE - In this file photo taken on Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2019, Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov, a former Russian prisoner, attends a press conference at the European Council in Strasbourg, eastern France. Held in Russian captivity on charges of plotting a terrorist act, Sentsov was recently freed from prison where he says inmates were routinely abused. Sentsov was included in a Russia-Ukraine prisoner exchange last month and is now in Poland to receive a film industry award. (AP Photo/Jean-Francois Badias, File)
Republished October 24, 2019 - 7:04 AM
Original Publication Date October 24, 2019 - 6:01 AM
WARSAW, Poland - A Ukrainian film director recently freed from Russian captivity says prisoners where he was held were routinely abused.
Oleg Sentsov was included in a Russia-Ukraine prisoner exchange last month and is in Poland to receive a film industry award.
The 43-year-old critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin spent five years in captivity in a colony above the Arctic circle on charges of plotting a terrorist act.
In remarks posted late Wednesday, Sentsov said the barracks were warm, but inmates are still tortured, beaten and humiliated. He says he was treated slightly better thanks to the international public interest in him.
He continued his criticism of Putin, saying the Russian leader would "sooner give away the Kremlin" than return Crimea to Ukraine.
News from © The Associated Press, 2019