The U.S. Embassy in Ukraine has called on Russia to cease religious persecution and release Ukrainian political prisoners.
“We condemn Russia’s sentencing of four Crimean Tatars to 12-18 years in prison on fabricated ‘extremism’ charges and the detention of five more Crimean Tatar activists. Russia must cease its religious persecutions and free all Ukrainian political prisoners. Crimea is Ukraine,” the Embassy said on Twitter.
As reported, the Southern District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don sentenced four members of the so-called “Alushta group” in the fabricated Hizb ut-Tahrir case to the maximum terms of imprisonment in a security colony: Lenur Khalilov and Ruslan Mesutov to 18 years, Ruslan Nagaev to 13 years, Eldar Kantemirov to 12 years in prison.
