European Parliament calls on Russia to immediately release Ukrainian political prisoners

The text was adopted with 458 votes in favour, 80 against and 89 abstentions, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

MEPs call on the Russian authorities to release without further delay and unconditionally all illegally and arbitrarily detained Ukrainian citizens, both in Russia and in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, and to provide for their safe return, including Crimean Tatars, the recently detained Red Square peaceful demonstrators of July 10, 2019, Ukrainian citizens detained on politically motivated charges and the 24 crew members of the Ukrainian naval vessels who were seized near the Kerch Strait by Russian military forces on November 25 last year.

The resolution demands that Russia publish a full list of prisoners held in occupied Ukrainian territories in Donbas and Luhansk and to facilitate their contact with families and lawyers.

The European Parliament strongly condemns Russia’s continued violations of fundamental principles and norms of international law, particularly its refusal to comply with the decisions of international tribunals and courts; urges the Russian Federation to implement the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights on the violation of the human rights of persons detained in the Crimean peninsula and in the Russian Federation.

The session of the European Parliament was attended by a delegation of Ukraine, which included members of the government and the fifth president of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko.

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