MFA condemns "sentence" of Ukrainian artist Bohdan Ziza by Russian invaders

That's according to the Foreign Ministry's commentary, Ukrinform reports.

"We call on the international community to strongly condemn the actions of the Russian occupation administration in Crimea, to speak out in defense of Bohdan Ziza and all other Ukrainian political prisoners illegally detained by Russia," the Foreign Ministry said.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs noted that Ziza called for the release of all Ukrainian political prisoners from prisons in the temporarily occupied Crimea and Russia and announced a hunger strike on June 10 to protest the fabricated verdict against him.

Ukrainian diplomats emphasized that cultural and artistic activity is an integral part of every society.

"Convicting a person for his or her artistic expression is a distortion of justice and a violation of the basic principles of democracy. Bohdan's sentence is a diagnosis of the Russian totalitarian regime, for which human life and freedom do not matter," the Foreign Ministry said.

The foreign ministry recalled that the UN General Assembly in its resolution of December 15, 2022, "Situation of human rights in the temporarily occupied Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, Ukraine" condemned Russia's actions in Crimea and expressed deep concern about reports of arbitrary detentions, arrests and sentences against Ukrainian citizens, including Bohdan Ziza.

As Ukrinform reported, today, on June 6, a Russian military court sentenced Crimean artist Bohdan Ziza to 15 years in a general regime colony.

The day before, during a court hearing, Bohdan Ziza announced that he would start a hunger strike on June 10. He also demanded to be deprived of his Russian citizenship and to release all political prisoners from Russian prisons.

The invaders charged Bohdan Ziza with four articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation: a terrorist attack; a threat of a terrorist attack; a call for terrorism and vandalism for political reasons.

On May 16, 2022, the young man poured blue and yellow paint on the Yevpatoria "administration" building, and then threw a cocktail with an incendiary mixture into it. On the same day, he was arrested, tortured, threatened, and forced to record a "confession" on video. He was initially held in the Simferopol pre-trial detention center, and then transferred to a penitentiary in Russia.