The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine is protesting against the decision of the Southern District Military Court of the Russian Federation dated January 12 to convict citizens of Ukraine Ayder Dzhapparov, Enver Omerov and Riza Omerov in the case of the so-called Belogorsk "Hizb ut-Tahrir case" on charges of "organizing and participating in the activities of a terrorist organization and the violent seizure and retention of power."

In a statement released on the agency's website on Tuesday, the decision of the Russian court was called "shameful," and the charges against three Ukrainian citizens were fabricated.

"They were illegally detained on the territory of the temporarily occupied Autonomous Republic of Crimea by the power structures of the occupation administration of the Russian Federation on June 10, 2019 and, in violation of international law, were transferred to the territory of Russia in Rostov-on-Don. The pretrial investigation and trial took place with numerous procedural violations and in conditions of complete disregard for the evidence provided by the defense that the accused were not involved in the incriminated actions, which indicates the political motivation of the decision," the Foreign Ministry said.

The Foreign Ministry said that Enver Omerov was sentenced to 18 years, Ayder Dzhapparov to 17 years, Riza Omerov to 13 years of imprisonment in high security penal colonies.

"These sentences are yet another proof of the use of the Russian judicial system, which has nothing to do with justice, to continue the policy of persecuting the Crimean Tatars and suppressing any signs of dissent in the occupied Crimea," First Deputy Foreign Minister of Ukraine Emine Dzhaparova said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine demands from the Russian Federation to cancel the court decision and immediately release all three convicts, as well as all illegally detained citizens of Ukraine. The Foreign Ministry also called on the international community to condemn the use of political persecution by the Russian Federation against the citizens of Ukraine, as well as to increase political and diplomatic pressure on the Russian Federation in order to release the illegally detained Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars.