Kyiv hosts rally in support of Kremlin prisoners
According to an Ukrinform correspondent, several dozen activists who came to support the Kremlin's political prisoners took part in the event.
Before the rally, anthems of Ukraine and the Crimean Tatar people were played. After that, the participants delivered their speeches.
Chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, Refat Chubarov, stressed that "in recent months, not a day has passed in Crimea that the Crimean Tatar’s homes not been invaded and searched, people being detained, tried, and illegally convicted."
“In September and October 2021 alone, about ten such raids took place. More than 100 of our compatriots who rallied outside the Russian FSB offices in the occupied Crimea or those who rallied outside the courts to support their compatriots who had been illegally tried, were detained and prosecuted in their courts,” Chubarov said.
He stressed that "the occupiers are trying to crush the indigenous Crimean Tatar people and ethnic Ukrainians in the temporarily occupied Crimea, so that no one dares to say a word in defense of those who are being repressed, so that no one speaks up in support of anyone."
"Here, in this square, no one, including me, is able to recall all the names of political prisoners as there are already 130 of them!”Chubarov said.
According to the official, the protesters gathered to formulate joint actions.
"We can keep talking about condemning, demanding something from the Russian Federation, but all this has been ineffective. We must try to find forms of pressure on our own state, on our international partners, who are able to take measures that will force Russia to release political prisoners of the Kremlin, as well as to adhere to and return to international law," Chubarov said.
Former Russian prisoners of war, including MP Akhtem Chiygoz, Ukrainian film director Oleh Sentsov, and researcher Ihor Kozlovsky, also spoke in support of the Kremlin’s political prisoners.
Permanent Representative of the President of Ukraine for the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, Anton Korynevych, said the attention to the citizens of Ukraine illegally detained by the Russian Federation on the part of the government and the international community should be as high as possible.
"We have to praise their contribution, their role in overcoming Russian aggression and fighting this absolutely terrible enemy, which we all can and must eventually tackle. Ukraine will always make every effort to ensure that all our political prisoners held by the Kremlin, all our citizens, eventually return home, to their families, or anywhere where they will be safe,” Korynevych stressed.
At the same time, he added that, along with Ukraine’s efforts in the international arena, "we must also form an appropriate base within the state so that all detainees and their families have the right and opportunity to receive appropriate legal and social protection."
Speakers mentioned Kremlin political prisoners, including Deputy Head of the Crimean Tatar People's Mejlis, Nariman Dzhelyal.
On the bridge over Institutska Street, the organizers unfurled a banner reading "#FreeNariman Freedom to Kremlin’s Political Prisoners" and handed out to the attendees the lists with the names of illegally held citizens of Ukraine.
Former Kremlin prisoners Ilmi Umerov, Oleksandr Kolchenko, Volodymyr Balukh, Mykola Semena, members of the Crimean Tatar People's Mejlis, representatives of human rights organizations, and public figures also attended the rally.
