MOSCOW. April 25 (Interfax) - Moscow has demanded that "the people's governor" of Ukraine's Donetsk region Pavlo Hubarev and other "political prisoners" be released as soon as possible.
"The de facto Kyiv authorities should immediately release Pavlo Hubarev and other activists of peaceful protests in the southeast of Ukraine from prison," the Russian Foreign Ministry's human rights envoy, Konstantin Dolgov, said on his Twitter page on Thursday.
"These people are political prisoners. The existence [of political prisoners] is incompatible with democracy, commitment to human rights and Ukraine's international obligations," Dolgov said.
"The Kyiv authorities bear responsibility for the life and health of these people," he said.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov earlier on Thursday expressed concerns over the life of Donetsk "people's governor" Pavlo Hubarev.
Hubarev was proclaimed the new governor of the Donetsk region at a rally of Maidan opponents in Donetsk on March 1. Hubarev and his supporters had earlier put forward a number of demands to the local authorities, including a referendum of the region's status.
Hubarev was arrested in Donetsk on March 6. According to the Ukrainian Security Service, he is charged with "encroaching on the territorial integrity and inviolability of Ukraine,"
On April 1 Russia's Federation Council member Igor Morozov said that Hubarev was held in a very critical condition at a prison hospital after been brutally beaten and that his relatives were not allowed to see him and there was no way to contact him.