Condemned in the annexed Crimea deputy chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, Akhtem Chiygoz, has sent a message to the rally participants in his support, which took place on the Independence Square in Kyiv on Wednesday.

"Every Crimean Tatar, every Ukrainian should understand that our right to freedom, a decent life and love of the Motherland is a danger to the Russian authorities," Chiygoz's appeal to the rally participants, posted by his lawyer Nikolai Polozov on Twitter, reads.

"I was listening to the verdict on September 11 and realized: much cynicism, and most importantly, the fear are behind every spoken word and actions of the judges and the Russian authorities over the strength, courage, and determination of my people. They are annoyed, frightened by true patriotism, which they do not understand and it is not inhered in them. It is convenient for them to cover themselves with false patriotism, impregnated with rotten national-chauvinism, which they impose not only on their people," the deputy head of the Mejlis said.

"The verdict absorbed the hopelessness and anger of the collaborators, but their joy is premature. They will not be able to "make lie and meanness the main value." They will never be the authorities of the people," Chiygoz said.

As earlier reported, a day earlier, MP from the Petro Poroshenko Bloc party, Chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people Refat Chubarov had announced holding a rally on the Independence Square in Kyiv on September 13 in support of Chiygoz, illegally convicted in the occupied Crimea. The rally was scheduled to start at 17:30.

On September 11, the so-called "Supreme Court" of annexed Crimea sentenced Chiygoz to eight years in prison. He will serve his sentence in a penal colony.

Chiygoz was arrested on January 29, 2015, on charges of organizing and participating in civil unrest at a rally in Simferopol on February 26, 2014, prior to the referendum on Crimea's accession to Russia.

President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko said that the verdict of the Supreme Court of Crimea to Deputy Chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people Akhtem Chyigoz is another verdict of the Russian Federation, which at the international level is recognized as an occupier.

Justice Minister of Ukraine Pavlo Petrenko during meetings in the Council of Europe will raise the issue of political prisoners in Russia and Russia-occupied Crimea, as well as the guilty verdict against Deputy Chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people Akhtem Chiygoz.

The international non-governmental organization Amnesty International stands for the immediate release of deputy chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people Akhtem Chiygoz, sentenced by the court in the annexed Crimea to eight years of imprisonment, the organization's press service said on Monday.

The European Union regards the ban on activities of the Crimean Mejlis and the persecution of its leaders as "serious and unacceptable violations" of their rights.