You're reading: Russia continues trials against 11 Ukrainians – Foreign Ministry

Russia continues to use torture and intimidation both against Ukrainians on the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine and those, who are illegally detained on the territory of Russia, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry's spokesperson Mariana Betsa has said.

“Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry strongly opposed the systematic use by Russian authorities of intimidation, torture, and other methods of inhuman treatment against Ukrainians on the Ukrainian territory that has been seized by Russian occupation forces, as well as against those, who were illegally detained on the Russian territory,” she said at a briefing in Kyiv on Feb. 12.

Betsa also protested against inhuman treatment of Ukrainian citizens Stanislav Klykh, Mykola Karpiuk, Oleh Sentsov and other Ukrainians held in Russian prisons.

“We consider this policy of violence and humiliation on the part of the Russian Federation as an irrefutable proof of political involvement; of the fact that all the cases against the captured Ukrainians are groundless and absurd, of the inability of Russian authorities to prove their allegations by legal methods,” she said.

Foreign ministry’s spokesperson noted that court proceedings against 11 Ukrainians, political prisoners in Russia, were ongoing.

“The trials of Ukrainians show that the Russian justice rejects evidence of defense teams, refuses to admit consular employees, exercises pressure on the accused to obtain the necessary information. Yesterday, the hearing in Nadia Savchenko’s case took place… This case, like the rest of the cases against Ukrainians, was orchestrated from the beginning, there is no evidence base, it was built on absurd charges,” Betsa added.