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European Parliament urged Russia to free Ukrainian prisoners

16.03.2017
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The European Parliament urged Russia to free those Ukrainians held captive in Russian prisons. This is noted in the resolution adopted on 16 March.

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The European Parliament reiterates its condemnation of the illegal annexation three years ago of the Crimean peninsula and the City of Sevastopol by Russia. It deplores violations of freedom of speech, abuse of the media, forced imposition of Russian citizenship and the discriminatory policies imposed by the so-called authorities against, in particular, Crimea’s ethnic Tatar minority.

Russia should stop giving "all inhabitants of Crimea Russian passports" and "release without further delay all illegally and arbitrarily detained Ukrainian citizens, both in Russia and in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, and to provide for their safe return", urge MEPs. It should also "immediately cease the practices of persecution", as many cases have been reported of “disappearances”, torture and systematic intimidation of local citizens opposed to the annexation of Crimea.

MEPs reiterate their call for the immediate reversal of the so-called Supreme Court of Crimea’s decision of 26 April 2016 to ban the Mejlis, the legitimate and recognised representative body of ethnic Crimean Tatars, an indigenous people of the peninsula whose "rights have been gravely violated".

Category
Press releases
Location

Bruxelles

Editorial sections
Ukraine