MFA condemns transfer of political prisoners Dzhelyal, Akhtemovs from Crimea

This is underscored in the statement posted on the Ministry’s website.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs also calls on the international community and partners of Ukraine, including within the framework of the International Crimea Platform, to continue to put pressure on Russia to immediately release all Ukrainian citizens illegally imprisoned by the Russian occupation administration in Crimea, and to impose new sanctions on officials involved in the persecution of Ukrainian citizens.

Nariman Dzhelyal is the first deputy chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People, which has been banned in Crimea since 2016 as an "extremist organization", Aziz Akhtemov and Asan Akhtemov are Crimean Tatar activists. All three were detained by the security forces of the occupation administration in September 2021 on trumped-up charges. In the autumn of the same year, Nariman Dzhelyal and the Akhtemov brothers were additionally accused of crimes they did not commit.

After almost a year of "investigation" into the so-called "criminal cases", on September 21, 2022, the Russian occupation administration sentenced Nariman Dzhelyal to 17 years in prison in a high-security prison, a fine of RUB 700,000 and 1 year and 6 months of restricted freedom of movement. Asan Akhtemov was sentenced to 15 years in prison with a fine of RUB 500,000 and 1 year of restricted freedom of movement. Aziz Akhtemov was sentenced to 13 years in prison with a fine of RUB 500,000 and 1 year of restricted freedom of movement.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs emphasizes that the Russian occupation administration in Ukrainian Crimea launched a purposeful repressive campaign aimed to eradicate all forms of disloyalty since the moment of the temporary occupation. One of the main victims of the repressions is the indigenous people of Crimea – the Crimean Tatars, hundreds of whom suffered various forms of persecution on ethnic, political, and religious grounds.

The Ministry emphasizes that the Russian Federation must implement the resolution of the UN General Assembly "Situation with human rights in the temporarily occupied Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, Ukraine", adopted on December 15, 2022, which demands the release of illegally detained Ukrainians.