Sternenko records a video message for the first time since his imprisonment

Activist Serhii Sternenko, who has been behind bars for more than a week, recorded a video message from the courtroom.

The video was posted on the activist's YouTube page.

First, Sternenko thanked for the public support.

"As long as you don't forget, as long as you fight for me, for other political prisoners, for Andrii Antonenko, there's a chance that everything will be fine in our country," he said.

According to Sternenko, if the government doesn't stop the "arbitrariness" now, "it will end no better than the Yanukovych regime."

Also, according to him, he doesn't know how much the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi cares about the situation around his imprisonment.

"Thousands of people came to the Office of the President twice, and he's still silent. It seems to me that Volodymyr Zelenskyi may not understand, but I'm convinced that someone really wants to frame him or push him against civil society," Sternenko said. According to the activist, at present Zelenskyi's silence only harms him.

Serhii Sternenko also recalled that protests against illegal prisoners would take place on March 8 and 9 and called for rallies.

On February 27, rallies to support activist Serhii Sternenko took place in Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities and abroad.

This was the second similar demonstration. The first took place in many cities of Ukraine on February 23, when the Prymorskyi District Court of Odesa found Sternenko guilty of kidnapping by conspiracy, and illegal possession of weapons and sentenced him to 7 years and 3 months in prison with confiscation of half of his property. He was remanded in custody, pending an appeal against his sentence.

Sternenko denies involvement in the abduction and insists on the political motivation of the case. Sternenko's defense announced its intention to appeal the activist's sentence as soon as possible.