The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine expresses its resolute protest over the passing by the Supreme Court of the Chechen Republic yet another and disgraceful politicized verdict of guilty in the case of citizens of Ukraine Mykola Karpyuk and Stanislav Klykh having condemned them to 22.5 and 20 years imprisonment on trumped-up charges of participation in operations in Hroznyy during the period of 1994-1995.

This case against our compatriots is the apogee of the continuation by the Russian authorities of political persecution of Ukrainian citizens with active pro-Ukrainian civic position in conditions of continuing aggression by Russia against Ukraine.

The Russian side openly showed the customized nature of the case - the defense evidence and testimony of relatives of illegally imprisoned Ukrainians were systematically rejected, and the persistent torture and other illegal methods of inquiry were applied to Mykola Karpyuk and Stanislav Klykh during the investigation.

During the whole period of the Ukrainians’ detention, the illegal obstacles regarding the Ukrainian consular officials’ visits to them were made, which is a flagrant violation of international law.

This sentence is yet another indisputable proof of the absence of independent judiciary in modern Russia.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine demands from the Russian side immediately to overturn this illegal decision and to release Mykola Karpyuk and Stanislav Klykh. We also demand to release all illegally detained citizens of Ukraine, who are the political hostages and victims of the Russian aggression against Ukraine.