A man who led protests against Russia’s plans to annex Crimea from Ukraine was jailed for eight years in the disputed territory on Monday – a move Ukraine’s president called an act of Russian repression.
Crimean Tatar leader Ahtem Chiygoz was found guilty of stirring up mass disorder by calling street demonstrations in February 2014 against a referendum which later sealed Russia’s seizure of the peninsula.
Prosecutors at the court in Simferopol – the capital of Russian-controlled Crimea – said two people died in the unrest.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said the jailing of Chiygoz added to the case against Russia which had already been “recognised as an occupier at the highest international level.”
“One can unlawfully confine someone’s freedom, but it’s impossible to break the will! You may occupy foreign land, but it will burn under your feet,” Poroshenko said on Twitter.
There was no immediate comment from Russian authorities.