Kyiv protests against illegal sentences of three Ukrainian citizens by Russian court
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine has expressed a strong protest in connection with the illegal decision of the North Caucasus District Military Court of the Russian Federation of November 3, 2020 to convict three Ukrainian citizens in Hizb ut-Tahrir case.
"Citizens of Ukraine were illegally detained in February 2019 after searches in their houses in the village of Oktiabrske, Krasnohvardiisky district of the temporarily occupied Autonomous Republic of Crimea. The FSB of the Russian Federation groundlessly accused them of involvement in 'terrorist activities.' Later they were illegally transferred to Russian territory in Rostov-on-Don, which is a violation of international law," the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine press service said.
The ministry said that the sentences are yet another proof of the use of the 'draconian' norms of its anti-terrorist legislation for systemic political persecution of representatives of the Crimean Tatar people, as an instrument of intimidation and suppression of any manifestations of disloyalty to the occupation regime.
"Outrage is also caused by the fact that the Russian authorities blocked access to the place of the trial for the relatives and friends of the illegally detained citizens of Ukraine, who sought to support our compatriots today during sentencing," the ministry said.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine demands that the Russian Federation cancel the court decision and release the illegally detained citizens of Ukraine, as well as stop gross violations of human rights and implement the UN General Assembly resolutions: Territorial integrity of Ukraine dated March 27, 2014, and Situation of human rights in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol (Ukraine) (2016-2019).
"We call on the international community to intensify political, diplomatic and sanctions pressure on the aggressor state in order to stop Russia from violating human rights in the temporarily occupied Crimea, release all illegally detained citizens of Ukraine in the Russian Federation and temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, restore the territorial integrity of Ukraine in its internationally recognized borders," the ministry said.
