Foreign Ministry calls on world to intensify pressure on Russia to free Umerov

Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mariana Betsa has called on international partners to intensify pressure on Russia so as to release deputy chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people Ilmi Umerov.

"We demand that Russia release Ilmi. We call on international partners to intensify pressure on the Russian Federation to release Umerov and other Ukrainian political prisoners," she wrote on Twitter on Wednesday.

As reported, on September 27, a Kremlin-controlled court in Crimea sentenced Ilmi Umerov to two years in a penal colony, banning him from public service for two years.

A criminal case against Umerov was opened in 2016 under Article 280.1 of the Russian Criminal Code (public appeals for separatism).

Umerov sees the criminal case against him as politically motivated.

op