Zelensky calls on world to help release Dzhelyal, nearly 450 Ukrainians

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called on the international community to support the release of Nariman Dzhelyal, first deputy chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, and several hundred Ukrainians who are being unlawfully detained in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine and in Russia.

He said this in his speech at the UN General Assembly, according to an Ukrinform correspondent.

"In early September, the first vice chair of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, Mr. Nariman Dzhelyal, was unlawfully detained in Crimea. The Russian authorities are charging this political scientist, journalist, TV host, and history professor with an attempted explosion of a segment of a gas pipeline. This is the price of freedom of speech. This is the price of fighting for somebody's rights, for human rights," Zelensky said.

He noted that he very much counted on the support of the international community in securing the release of Dzhelyal and about 450 Ukrainians who are being unlawfully detained in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine and Russia.

He also called on countries to support updated UN resolutions on Crimea.

"I call on you to support update resolutions regarding the situation around human rights in the occupied Crimea and the militarization of our Ukrainian occupied peninsula, which will be submitted for review of this General Assembly towards the end of the year," Zelensky said.

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