美国国家公共电台 NPR Ukrainian Film Director Stages Hunger Strike In Russian Jail During World Cup

 

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Oleg Sentsov is a Ukrainian filmmaker and a political prisoner in Russia who's currently on a hunger strike. Last week, as Russia was getting all this attention for hosting the World Cup, the American writer Stephen King took to Twitter to demand Sentsov's release. He's one of a growing number of cultural figures calling on Russian President Vladimir Putin to free the political dissident, calls that are falling on deaf ears. Here's NPR's Lucian Kim.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

LUCIAN KIM, BYLINE¹: When the Russian national anthem² sounded at the World Cup opening ceremony last week, it was a moment of intense pride for President Vladimir Putin and millions of his fellow citizens. But more than a thousand miles away from the Moscow stadium in a prison camp on the Arctic Circle, imprisoned³ film director Oleg Sentsov was entering his second month of a hunger strike. The 41-year-old is demanding the release of 64 Ukrainian nationals jailed after Russia seized the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine four years ago.

TANYA LOKSHINA: The case Oleg Sentsov is emblematic⁴ of the fact that in Russia today, people can go to jail for peaceful resistance.

KIM: Tanya Lokshina is Russia program director at Human Rights Watch in Moscow.

LOKSHINA: Russia is in fact swept up in the worst human rights crisis since the fall of the Soviet⁵ Union. And that is something we cannot possibly ignore no matter how much of a success the World Cup itself is.

KIM: Putin has repeatedly said that Russia believes in the principle of sports without politics. The Kremlin asserts that Russia is a democracy with rule of law and doesn't deserve being singled out for its human rights record. When French President Emmanuel Macron visited Russia in May, he brought up the case of Oleg Sentsov in vain. During a nationally televised call-in show this month, Putin explained why Sentsov couldn't be swapped⁶ for a Russian journalist held in Ukraine.

(SOUNDBITE OF RUSSIAN TELEVISION BROADCAST)

PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN: (Speaking Russian).

KIM: Putin said the two cases are completely different, as Sentsov was sentenced for planning a terrorist act and not for his activities as a filmmaker.

A native of Crimea, Sentsov was arrested two months after Russia annexed⁷ his homeland. He was charged with setting fire to the offices of pro-Kremlin organizations and planning to blow up a statue of Vladimir Lenin. Sentsov protested his innocence⁸, and one of the witnesses later retracted⁹ his testimony¹⁰, saying he had made it under torture. But a Russian military court still sentenced Sentsov to 20 years in a maximum security prison.

LOKSHINA: Oleg Sentsov clearly does not belong in jail. He never perpetrated any crime. He is clearly those serving 20 years for political reasons, for resisting Russia's occupation of Crimea.

KIM: Putin has released prisoners in politically charged cases in the past. But this time, political analyst¹¹ Dmitry Oreshkin says that's unlikely for two reasons.

DMITRY ORESHKIN: (Through interpreter) For one, Putin has the image of a macho who won't yield to pressure. Secondly¹², he's afraid that if he shows weakness, it could be a sign to others to go on hunger strike, too.

KIM: Sentsov's lawyer, Dmitry Dinze, visited his client on Thursday. He says Sentsov looks very bad, is starting to have kidney and heart problems, has lost about 30 pounds. But he says Sentsov's will isn't broken.

DMITRY DINZE: (Through interpreter) Sentsov doesn't plan to end his hunger strike. He plans to continue it. The doctors say that if serious health problems begin, they'll force-feed him.

KIM: Appeals to the Kremlin by fellow filmmakers, the European Parliament and the State Department have gone nowhere. On Tuesday, a group of Russian cultural figures signed an open letter to Putin asking him to show mercy. A Kremlin spokesman replied that public opinion can't change a court decision and that Sentsov can only receive a presidential pardon if he asks for it.

Lucian Kim, NPR News, Moscow.

(SOUNDBITE OF MOONCAKE'S "TURQUOISE")

1 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

2 anthem   

n.圣歌，赞美诗，颂歌

参考例句：

• All those present were standing solemnly when the national anthem was played.奏国歌时全场肃立。
• As he stood on the winner's rostrum,he sang the words of the national anthem.他站在冠军领奖台上，唱起了国歌。

3 imprisoned   

下狱，监禁( imprison的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He was imprisoned for two concurrent terms of 30 months and 18 months. 他被判处30个月和18个月的监禁，合并执行。
• They were imprisoned for possession of drugs. 他们因拥有毒品而被监禁。

4 emblematic   

adj.象征的，可当标志的；象征性

参考例句：

• The violence is emblematic of what is happening in our inner cities. 这种暴力行为正标示了我们市中心贫民区的状况。
• Whiteness is emblematic of purity. 白色是纯洁的象征。 来自辞典例句

5 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

6 swapped   

交换（工作）( swap的过去式和过去分词 )； 用…替换，把…换成，掉换（过来）

参考例句：

• I liked her coat and she liked mine, so we swapped. 我喜欢她的外套，她喜欢我的外套，于是我们就交换了。
• At half-time the manager swapped some of the players around. 经理在半场时把几名队员换下了场。

7 annexed   

[法] 附加的，附属的

参考例句：

• Germany annexed Austria in 1938. 1938年德国吞并了奥地利。
• The outlying villages were formally annexed by the town last year. 那些偏远的村庄于去年正式被并入该镇。

8 innocence   

n.无罪；天真；无害

参考例句：

• There was a touching air of innocence about the boy.这个男孩有一种令人感动的天真神情。
• The accused man proved his innocence of the crime.被告人经证实无罪。

9 retracted   

v.撤回或撤消( retract的过去式和过去分词 )；拒绝执行或遵守；缩回；拉回

参考例句：

• He made a false confession which he later retracted. 他作了假供词，后来又翻供。
• A caddy retracted his statement. 一个球童收回了他的话。 来自辞典例句

10 testimony   

n.证词；见证，证明

参考例句：

• The testimony given by him is dubious.他所作的证据是可疑的。
• He was called in to bear testimony to what the police officer said.他被传入为警官所说的话作证。

11 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

12 secondly   

adv.第二，其次

参考例句：

• Secondly,use your own head and present your point of view.第二，动脑筋提出自己的见解。
• Secondly it is necessary to define the applied load.其次，需要确定所作用的载荷。