Crimean Tatars are systematically pursued after the annexation of Crimea – Amnesty International
The Crimean Tatar community has been subjected to systematic persecution by the Russian authorities since the occupation and illegal annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation.
A report was published on December 15th by Amnesty International, an international human rights organization. Titled In the Dark: The Silencing of Dissent the report is dedicated to human rights violations in the Crimea.
The authors of the report call attention to the repressive tactics employed by the Russian authorities against the Crimean Tatar community and other dissenting voices in the two and a half years they have been in the control of the Crimean peninsula.
“As the most viable and cohesive group in Crimea opposed to the Russian occupation, the Crimean Tatar people have been deliberately targeted by the de facto local and Russian authorities in a wave of repression aimed at silencing their dissent and ensuring the submission of every person in Crimea to the annexation,” said John Dalhusein, Director of Amnesty International’s Europe and Central Asia Programme.
Russia imposed its legislation wholesale on the Crimean territory – in breach of international law – which has enabled the authorities to pursue key figures in the Tatar community on trumped-up extremism and other charges.
The report mentions Ahtem Chiygoz and Ilmi Umerov, Deputy Chairmen of Mejlis, who were pursued by the court and human rights human rights defender Emir-Useyin Kuku who is accused in the “Hizb ut-Tahrir” case
Human rights defenders also mention the forced exile of Refat Chubarov, Head of Crimean Tatar Mejlis, from Crimea, and his predecessor, Mustafa Dzhemiliev.
Mejlis has also been banned arbitrarily as an “extremist organisation”.
“At first there only were limitations to freedom of expression and peaceful gatherings, but now people who are trying to exercise these rights are persecuted under criminal procedure”, – the report states.
Amnesty International demands all restrictions lifted on the Mejlis as it is the informal executive body of the Crimean Tatars.
“However popular Crimea’s annexation may be with many on the peninsula, there is no escaping the fact that it has come at a very high price indeed for those who oppose it,” said Mr. Dalhusein.
The peninsula is home to about 250 thousand Crimean Tatars, which is about 13-15% of the total Crimean population. The Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people was founded in 1991. Following an April 26, 2016 lawsuit by Natalia Poklonskaya, General Prosecutor of Crimea, the Supreme Court of Crimea has declared the Mejlis an “extremist organization” and banned its activities.
