“I want to thank Poles, filmmakers, politicians, Ukrainians who are in Poland, everybody who supported me and fought for my freedom,” public broadcaster Polish Radio’s IAR news agency quoted Sentsov as saying during a ceremony in Warsaw on Tuesday.
“Freedom is the most precious thing in the world and no one hands it out for free. One has to be ready to pay any price for freedom,” the director added on receiving the prize, awarded for his “bravery and strength.”
Sentsov, a 43-year-old Crimean-born film director, was detained after Russia's annexation of the Crimean peninsula in 2014.
He was taken to Russia, where he was charged with planning terrorist attacks and sentenced to 20 years in a prison camp.
Sentsov denied the accusations and said that the charges against him were trumped up for political reasons.
The director has accused Russia of human rights violations, claiming that he was tortured.
He started a hunger strike in May last year, demanding that Russia release all jailed Ukrainian nationals.
A hundred days into Sentsov's hunger strike, the United States called for his release, calling the case a “clear miscarriage of justice.”
Officials from Poland and other countries appealed to Russia's human rights ombudsman, its general prosecutor, and the country's justice, foreign and interior ministries.
Sentsov was released in September this year after serving four years in prison, along with 34 other Ukrainian political prisoners.
(jh/pk)
Source: PAP/IAR