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#Ukraine: Foreign affairs ministry protests to Russian Federation over treatment of citizens

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originalThe Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine has expressed, through the following statement, its resolute protest to the Russian Federation in connection with the ongoing repressions, illegal detentions, searches, arrests, tortures and ill-treatment of the citizens of Ukraine. 

"Despite the repeated calls by Ukraine and the international community demanding the immediate release of the illegally detained and sentenced Ukrainians, the Russian leadership continues its shameful practice of using Ukrainians as hostages of its aggressive policy against our country.  This Cynical, and seemingly institutionalised, disregard of fundamental human rights and freedoms has transformed the law enforcement and judicial systems of the aggressor state into repressive and punitive tools that foster the formation of a totalitarian regime in Russia.

"The aggressor continues to ignore its obligations under the Minsk agreements on the exchange of hostages and illegally detained persons by the principle "all for all". Though six prisoners have returned to Ukraine, their total number has not decreased but increased: now we have information on at least 17 Ukrainians who are being incarcerated, for politically motivated reasons, in the territory of the occupier. Even more of our compatriots are now being arbitrarily arrested and detained in the occupied Crimean peninsula.

"More than a hundred Ukrainians are being kept in appalling conditions by Russian-backed terrorists in the occupied Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine.  Russia's practice is for systematic, unmotivated rejection of appeals of Ukrainian consul for permission to visit Ukrainian political prisoners.  There is unequivocal evidence of the systematic implementation of unlawful interrogation practices, torture and the methods of psychological pressure towards the citizens of Ukraine, held in Russia and the occupied territories.

"Evidence obtained fraudulently, or blatant acts of entrapment, have led to Ukrainian citizens being drawn into illegal schemes of distribution of drugs in the Russian Federation. This year alone nearly a thousand of our compatriots were sentenced in Russia for drag-trafficking related crimes, with most of the cases based on fabricated materials.  Deliberately harmful actions of the Kremlin towards Ukraine and its citizens have become so unpredictable and threatening that Ukraine has been forced to warn its citizens travelling to the Russian Federation, or to the temporarily Russian-occupied Ukrainian territories.

"Ukraine with its international partners makes all possible political, diplomatic and legal efforts to free Ukrainian citizens from Russian captivity. However, in breach of the norms of the international law Moscow continues to hold in captivity Oleg Sentsov, Olexander Kolchenko, Akhtem Chiyhoz, Roman Sushchenko, Mykola Karpyuk, Ferat Sayfullayev, Serhyi Lytvynov, Olexii Cherniy, Ruslan Zeytullayev, Stanislav Klyh, Valentin Vyhivskyi, Yuri Primov, Victor Shur, Olexander Kostenko, Evhen Panov, Rustem Vaitov, Enver Bekirov, Emir-Usain Kuku, Vadim Siruk, Muslim Aliev, Refat Alimov, Enver Mamutov, Arsen Dzhepparov, Ramzy Memetov, Mustafa Dehermendzhy, Zevri Abseyitov, Rustem Abiltarov, Ali Asanov, Andriy Kolomyets, Volodymyr Balukh, Teymur Abdullayev, Uzayir Abdullayev, Aider Saledinov, Volodymyr Prysych, Dmytro Shtyblikov, Olexii Besarabov, Vladimir Dudko, Olexiy Stogniy, Glib Shabliy, Leonid Parkhomenko, Redvan Suleymanov, Emil Dzhemadenov, Rustam Ismailov, Mykola Shyptur and many other Ukrainians.

"Another two citizens of Ukraine - Ilmi Umerov and Mykola Semena, though not in prison now, continue to be targets of harassment by the Russian occupation authorities.  The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine demands that the Russian Federation release immediately all illegally detained citizens of Ukraine without any additional preconditions, and furthermore to stop the practice of political persecution and repressions towards our citizens.

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"We call upon the United Nations, and its member states, to take further consolidated steps to increase pressure on the Russian Federation on the grounds of its severe violations of the key provisions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination; the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment; the European Convention on Human Rights; the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment; and all other fundamental international instruments, as well as its disregard for the requirements of UN General Assembly Resolution A/RES/71/205 Situation of human rights in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol (Ukraine)."

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