By KYIV. Oct 24 (Interfax-Ukraine) – First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Emine Dzhaparova called on political and public figures to join the initiative to publicize the names of Ukrainian citizens who were illegally detained by the Russians in Crimea.
At a meeting of the second parliamentary summit of the International Crimea Platform, which takes place in Prague on Tuesday, she said: “Dear friends, I was asked to convey the following message to you by a group of human rights activists from Crimea who still live there and risk their lives every day for the freedom of others. And the message is this: dear Members of Parliament, you are the voices of your people and you represent their hopes and fears. Your role is not only laws, but also to protect your citizens and human values. Today we ask you to become the voices of innocent Ukrainian citizens in occupied Crimea who were illegally detained for allegedly being called terrorists or extremists.”
The deputy minister said publicizing the names of those illegally detained in Crimea is the only guarantee that a person will not be killed or tortured to death in a Russian prison.
In this regard, as Dzhaparova noted, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine launched a Mentoring Initiative for Crimean political prisoners among famous political and public figures in different countries of the world.
“We already have the Vice-President of the German Bundestag, Katrin Göring-Eckardt, who has become the voice of one of the leaders of the Crimean Tatar people, Nariman Celâl, my friend, father of four children. We invite you to join this initiative and become the voices of those who cannot speak behind Russian bars, because glasnost is the only immunity that literally saves lives in a Russian prison,” the deputy minister said.
