European Parliament, on Thursday, in June,14 adopted a resolution on Human Rights situation in Russia at  plenary meeting in Strasbourg by 485 votes to 76, with 66 abstentions. The European Parliament has strongly condemned massive systematic violations of human rights in Russia and in occupied Crimea and again demanded that the Russian authorities immediately and unconditionally release all illegally detained Ukrainian political prisoners.

This is stated in a European Parliament resolution “On Russia, notably the case of Ukrainian political prisoner Oleg Sentsov” 2018/2754 (RSP). “The European Parliament demands that the Russian authorities immediately and unconditionally release Oleg Sentsov and all other illegally detained Ukrainian citizens in Russia and on the Crimean peninsula,”  reads the document. The resolution mentions the names of more than 70 Ukrainian political prisoners held in Russia and in occupied Crimea, including Ukrinform journalist Roman Sushchenko.

Members of European Parliament also expressed their solidarity with Ukrainian filmmaker, political activist and political prisoner Oleg Sentsov, who began a hunger strike on May 14, 2018 to press for the release of illegally detained compatriots. The resolution notes that another illegally detained Ukrainian citizen in Russia, particularly Olexandr Kolchenko detained together with Sentsov and Volodymyr Balukh as well, who was on hunger strike since March 19. Besides the European Parliament condemned Russia’s violations of international law in occupied Crimea, including the “enforcement of Russian legislation, the heavy militarization of the Crimean peninsula, which threatens the regional security, and the massive and systematic human rights violations targeting, in particular, ethnic Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars”.  The European Parliament called on the European Union’s Special Representative for Human Rights to pay continuous attention to the human rights situation on the Crimean peninsula and in the non-government controlled areas of eastern Ukraine.