Statement by Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on September 11 issued the following statement regarding Russia’s sentencing of Crimean Tatar activist Akhtem Chiygoz.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine expresses its resolute protest over the illegal sentencing of Ukrainian citizen Akhtem Chiygoz by the Russian occupation authorities on the territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea to eight years of imprisonment.
Akhtem Chiygoz, the deputy chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People, was punished by the Russian occupants for his support of the territorial integrity of Ukraine and his fight for human rights. This is yet another manifestation of Russia’s repressive policies on the Crimean peninsula, aimed at suppressing dissent and opposition to the Kremlin regime, as well as yet more evidence of discrimination against Crimean Tatars.
We demand that the Russian Federation release Akhtem Chiygoz, stop repressions against Crimean Tatars and Ukrainians on the territory of occupied Crimea and restore the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.
We call on the international community to consistently respond to the cynical human rights violations in Crimea and to strengthen the political and diplomatic pressure on the Kremlin in order to ensure the return of the aggressor state to the tenets of international law.