Dzheppar: Russia illegally holding more than 140 Ukrainian political prisoners

Ahead of International Human Rights Day, a meeting of the Platform to Coordinate Actions on Release of the Ukrainian Political Prisoners was held at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs under the chairmanship of First Deputy Minister Emine Dzheppar.

“Dzheppar noted that Russia had unlawfully arrested more than 140 Ukrainian citizens on politically motivated charges and this number keeps growing. Thus, since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the criminal occupation authorities have passed sentences in the cases of Crimean political prisoners, whose total term of imprisonment already exceeds 1,300 years,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine informs.

"Significant work is made within the framework of the International Crimean Platform, a mechanism that has united the efforts of many world countries and international organizations for the de-occupation of the Crimean Peninsula. Most of the efforts are aimed at ensuring observance of human rights in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine," Dzheppar said.

The official also reported that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs constantly raises the issue of Ukrainian political prisoners at high-level events, including demands for the release of illegally imprisoned people.

"At the same time, we use more personalized approaches and projects. The implementation of the public advocacy mentoring initiative for citizen journalists illegally imprisoned by Russia continues. Advocacy mentors highlight the issue of illegal imprisonment of citizen journalists in Crimea, share posts on their social media accounts, and use their global popularity to draw attention to Ukrainian citizens illegally imprisoned by Russia," the first deputy foreign minister added.

The platform participants agreed that the realities of Russia’s large-scale invasion require rethinking approaches to the means of protecting the rights of Ukrainian citizens who are illegally held by the aggressor. It was agreed to strengthen Ukraine's actions to draw the international community's attention to Russia’s systematic repression against Ukrainian citizens, to increase further pressure on the Russian side, and to ensure the inevitability of punishment for all those involved in war crimes.

The meeting was attended by relatives of political prisoners, members of the Parliament of Ukraine, the Permanent Representative of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, a representative of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, officials of the Ministry of Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Territories, the leadership of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People, as well as representatives of human rights NGOs.

As reported, in November, the Mejlis representatives discussed the issue of increasing international pressure on Russia to release political prisoners during a meeting with Speaker of the Turkish Parliament Mustafa Şentop.

Photo: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine

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