UN: Sentencing of Akhtem Chiygoz contradicts international law

Head of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine Fiona Frazer said this during presentation of the 19th report of the OHCHR on the human rights situation in Ukraine, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"Yesterday, the Supreme Court of Crimea sentenced Deputy Chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people Akhtem Chiygoz to eight years in a maximum security penal colony. This verdict concerns the events of February 26, 2014 that took place prior to the occupation of Crimea... We emphasize that the Russian Federation, being the occupying state, applies the legislation of the Russian Federation in Crimea in violation of the international law and contrary to the resolution of the UN General Assembly 68/262," Frazer said.

She informed that the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights continued to seek access to Crimea in order to fulfill the mandate to monitor, document and report on the human rights situation throughout Ukraine.

"We recall that the resolution of the UN General Assembly on the territorial integrity of Ukraine recognized Crimea as the territory which is temporarily occupied by the Russian Federation," she noted.

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