Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine expresses its resolute protest over the decision of the Military Court of Appeal in Vlasikha city, Moscow region, to dismiss an appeal by lawyers of Nariman Memedeminov, a Ukrainian citizen illegally detained in Russia, in relation to his conviction by the South District Military Court’s decision (Rostov-on-Don city) under fabricated charges of public calls for terrorism.

The decision speaks volumes about Russia’s unwillingness to halt the shameful practice of oppression of the Crimean Tatar people. Those who try to report on the real situation in the occupied Crimea are considered especially dangerous by the Russian occupation authorities. This was exactly the reason behind the detention of Nariman Memedeminov, a civil journalist, blogger and activist.

The threat to life and health of illegally detained citizens of Ukraine has increased against the backdrop of fast spread of COVID-19 in Russia and the alarming information of particular vulnerability at penitentiary facilities. It is outrageous that while other states are considering steps to reduce crowding in prisons in order to contain the pandemic, Russia deliberately aggravates the threats to Ukrainian citizens, illegally held in Russian prisons.

We demand Russia to immediately release Ukrainian citizen Nariman Memedeminov and other citizens of Ukraine, illegally held in prisons on the territory of Russian Federation and the occupied Crimea. Such a step would help restore justice for innocent people and ensure their right to life in the conditions of COVID-19 pandemics. 

We call on international community to increase political, diplomatic and sanction pressure on the aggressor state in order to stop human rights violations by Russia in the temporarily occupied Crimea, to release all illegally detained Ukrainian citizens in the Russian Federation and on the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, and to restore the territorial