The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine has expressed protest in connection with the refusal of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation to allow defense team`s appeal in the case of Ukrainian citizen Valentyn Vyhovskiy.
Moscow Regional Court sentenced Vyhovskiy to 11 years` imprisonment in a high security penal colony, the ministry said, according to an UaPosition correspondent.
In September 2014, Vihovskiy was illegally detained by the Russian occupation authorities in the temporarily occupied territory of Crimea and accused of espionage. Despite the repeated requests of the Ukrainian side, Ukrainian consular officials were not allowed to visit the prisoner for almost eight months since his arrest.
In addition, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, within 15 months the Russian investigative authorities exerted psychological pressure on Vyhovskiy, trying to get from him the necessary testimony and admission of guilt, and court hearings in his case were held behind closed doors.
”The trial of Valentyn Vyhovskiy, including his detention, prosecution and judgment, is biased and politicized, as in other cases of citizens of Ukraine, who became political hostages of the Kremlin. Ukrainian Foreign Ministry demands from the Russian side to cancel the wrongful conviction and to immediately release the citizen of Ukraine and bring him back to Ukraine,” the ministry said.
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