Ukraine’s lawsuit over banning Mejlis in occupied Crimea prepared for filing with ECHR

Ukraine will soon file a lawsuit over banning the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people in Crimea with the European Court of Human Rights.

This was stated by First Deputy Justice Minister of Ukraine Natalia Sevostyanova, the Human Rights Information Centre correspondent reports.

“We have already prepared a separate complaint concerning the ban of Mejlis activity. We do not want to merge it with other complaints as it is very specific and crying. We are still waiting for some evidence to reinforce it. We will probably need one or two weeks to send it,” she said.

As reported, April 26, 2016,  the so-called “Supreme Court of Crimea” recognized the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People as an extremist organization and banned its activities in Russia.

Earlier Thursday, the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) stated that the decision to ban the Mejlis may open the way to a massive wave of persecution against Crimean Tatars, for whom the Mejlis is a symbol of the fight against long-term reprisals.

The NGOs demanded to stop harassment of the Crimean Tatars in Crimea and to abandon any attempt to ban the Mejlis.