The Crimean Tatar Resource Center continues to tell about family persecutions in the occupied Crimea, and today we want to share with you the story of the Kurtametov family, where Russian occupiers arrested a father Khalil Kurtametov and a son Appaz Kurtametov.
The occupiers detained Appaz first. In October 2022, the Kyiv District «court» of the occupied Crimea arrested the young man. He was suspected of financing a terrorist organization under Article 208, Part 1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. According to the investigation, he lent UAH 500 to his friend, who, as Appaz found out after making the money transfer, served in the «Crimea» battalion. In April 2023, he was sentenced to 7 years in prison.
After that, repressions against his father began. First, on January 8, 2023, early in the morning, the occupiers abducted two residents of Henichesk, Khalil Kurtametov and his brother Ridvan. In February, Khalil Kurtametov returned home.
On November 1, 2023, the occupiers abducted 57-year-old businessman Khalil Kurtametov for the second time. It is known that Russian security forces conducted an illegal search in the house of the man, during which they planted documents related to the Noman Chelebidzhikhan battalion. In addition, among the papers that they found against him was a document entitled «Establishment of the Center for the Provision of Administrative Services in Novooleksiyivka», which mentions the Crimean Tatar Resource Center.
Although public hearings on this topic were held before the occupation of Kherson region.
As a result, Khalil Kurtametov was accused of participating in the battalion, although he had no ties to it. He is currently being held in Novotroitsk.
According to the CTRC, Khalil Kurtametov was an ordinary businessman and owned the Ai-Petri hotel on Arabat Spit, which was seized by the occupiers after the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The man did not even have any pages on social media and did not publish anything related to the Russian-Ukrainian war. The same applies to his son Appaz.
So, 2 searches, 2 criminal cases.
Isn’t it too much repression for one family?
We believe and know that justice will be restored very soon and one day all the prisoners from this family will definitely return home, and the occupiers will be responsible for the persecution and repression committed against each family member.