Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry lodges protest over detention of 45 Crimean Tatars in Moscow

Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry lodges protest over detention of 45 Crimean Tatars in Moscow

Ukrinform
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine has lodged its protest over the detention of 45 Crimean Tatars near the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation in Moscow.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine lodges a resolute protest over the unlawful detention of 45 Crimean Tatars by the Russian security forces. The Crimean Tatars gathered today near the building of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation in Moscow to hold a peaceful action in support of their compatriots convicted on trumped-up charges of participating in the activities of so-called ‘terrorist organization’,” reads the Ministry’s statement dated July 11.

As noted, along with yesterday’s [July 10] crackdown on the picket of Crimean Tatars near the Kremlin, today's [July 11] groundless detention once again demonstrated the invariability of the repressive policy of the Russian Federation towards the Crimean Tatars aimed at ousting the Crimean Tatar people from the temporarily occupied peninsula.

“The ruling of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation concerning the appeal against the judgment of the North-Caucasus District Military Court in the ‘Hizb ut-Tahrir case’, which reduces the term of imprisonment of illegally detained Ukrainian citizens by several months, is a cynical mockery of Ukrainian political prisoners. It once again confirms the absence of a fair and independent legal procedure in the Russian Federation," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine declares.

The Ministry called on the international community to condemn those illegal actions of the Russian Federation and to step up political, diplomatic and sanction pressure on the aggressor state to stop human rights violations and persecutions of Crimean Tatar people and to immediately release the Ukrainian citizens who were illegally detained in Russia.

On July 11, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation considered the appeal against the conviction of four Crimean Tatars in the “Hizb ut-Tahrir case”: Enver Mamutov, Rustem Abiltarov, Zevri Abseitov and Remzi Memetov. A rally in support of convicts was held near the court. Human rights activists, public figures and activists of the Strategy-18 civic movement came to support political prisoners. About 50 protesters (all of whom were Crimean Tatars) were detained by the police.

The day before, a rally in support of the illegally imprisoned Crimean Tatars was held on the Red Square in Moscow. “Russian security officials disperse people with posters, who protested against the reprisals in the occupied Crimea, in less than ten minutes,” chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people Refat Chubarov said in a video commentary. According to Russian media, Russian security forces detained seven Crimean Tatar activists at the rally.

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