Since 2014, the Crimean Tatar Resource Center has recorded 17 detentions on charges of participation in the Noman Çelebicihan Crimean Tatar Volunteer Battalion: 6 in the occupied Crimea, 11 in the occupied Kherson region after February 24, 2022.
In the occupied Crimea were detained:
Sagandzhy Fevzi (verdict – January 23, 2019)
Gafarov Dilyaver (verdict – August 28, 2019)
Kadyrov Edem(verdict – May 31, 2019)
Mamutov Aidyn (verdict – April 22, 2019)
Mezhmedynov Nariman (sentence – June 20, 2020)
Ablyamitov Medzhyt (sentence – March 24, 2021)
During the period of a full-scale war in Ukraine, we registered 10 arrests of Crimean Tatars and Ukrainians in the territory of the occupied Kherson region:
On March 4, a resident of the village of Rykove was arrested. The man is the Deputy Head of the Kherson Regional Mejlis of the Crimean Tatars Seidaliev Nasrulla
On March 31, Gugurik Rustem , a resident of Novooleksiivka, was arrested
On April 9, a resident of Kherson was arrested in the village of Kalanchak, his nae is Ibraimov Arsen
On April 11, Memetshaiev Artur , a resident of Henichesk, was arrested
On April 14, Crimean Tatar Osmanov Rustem was arrested
On May 20, Abdurakhmanov Ruslan , a resident of the village of Azovske, was arrested
On May 25, a resident of the village of Partyzanske of the Henichesk District Umerov Aider was arrested
On June 5, a resident of the Kherson region Dovhopolov Memet was arrested
On July 21, a resident of the village of Salkove of the Henichesk district Ihor Khalilov was arrested
On July 22, Kyseliov Oleksii , a resident of Henichesk, was arrested
Serhii Gudym, a resident of Novooleksiiivka, was also arrested.
All these people are accused of participation in the Noman Çelebicihan Crimean Tatar Volunteer Battalion
On June 1, the Supreme Court of Russia satisfied the claim of the Prosecutor General's Office for the recognition of the Noman Çelebicihan Crimean Tatar Volunteer Battalion as a terrorist organization and the prohibition of its activities on the territory of the Russian Federation.
Why is Russia doing this?
To justify the persecution of representatives of the indigenous people in the Kherson region;
To blame all the people involved in the civil blockade of Crimea in 2015;
So that all those detained in the case of the Noman Çelebicihan Crimean Tatar Volunteer Battalion are accused of terrorism and sentences with maximum terms are imposed;
To have grounds for further repressions of representatives of the Crimean Tatar people in the temporarily occupied Crimea;
To limit the development of patriotic public organizations in Ukraine.
We remind you that according to the CTRC, there are 258 political prisoners and those prosecuted in criminal cases for the period of the occupation of Crimea, 185 of them are representatives of the Crimean Tatar people.
The Crimean Tatar Resource Center strongly protests and states that the detention of Ukrainian citizens in this so-called case is illegal, politically motivated and criminal. Such a policy of the Russian Federation demonstrates the struggle against the political convictions of people in the occupied Crimea and the territory of the occupied Kherson region.
The Crimean Tatar Resource Center demands the immediate release of the defendants in the Noman Çelebicihan Crimean Tatar Volunteer Battalion case, as well as all political prisoners.