10:37, 24 March 2019

European diplomats criticize verdict to Pavel Grib

Pavel Grib. Photo: Maria Tomak / Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1781782718522118&set=pb.100000712204251.-2207520000.1511256161.&type=3&theater

Pavel Grib, convicted on charges of incitement to terror act, should be released, the external relations service of the European Union has stated. Jeremy Hunt, the British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, has pointed to the political background of the persecution of the Ukrainian citizen.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on March 22, 2019, a court in Rostov-on-Don sentenced Pavel Grib to six years in prison, convicting him of inciting a person to commit a terror act in a Sochi school. The defence appealed against the verdict.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of Ukraine has protested against the sentence to Grib and demanded to return him to his homeland. The term in the colony threatens his life, said Lyudmila Denisova, the Human Rights Commissioner of the Verkhovna Rada (Parliament) of Ukraine.

Pavel Grib was kidnapped by Russian authorities from Belarus and detained without any justified, the EU's statement says.

Jeremy Hunt has noted that Grib is seriously ill and received no proper medical care in detention.

After the sentencing, Pavel Grib went on a hunger strike in protest against the non-admission of Ukrainian doctors to him. However, Leonid Petrashis, the head of the regional Public Oversight Commission (POC), said that Grib continues eating and had no health complaints.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on March 23, 2019 at 00:46 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.