The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine strongly condemns the decision of the illegal so-called court of Russian occupation authorities in the territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea (Ukraine) regarding the extension of the preventive measure in the form of detention until 8 October 2017 against Akhtem Chiyhoz, a citizen of Ukraine, Deputy Chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people.
The ungrounded allegations in the court farce against Akhtem Chiyhoz are yet another evidence that the occupying State further implements its deliberate policy of persecutions, intimidations and repressions in the Crimean peninsula, while lawlessness and deprivation of rights are flourishing in its territory.
We urge the Kremlin to immediately release Akhtem Chiyhoz and to stop human rights abuses and politically motivated persecutions of Ukrainian citizens in the occupied Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol.