The prosecutor’s office of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea established that the abduction was committed by two members of the illegal armed group “Self-defense of Crimea” under the leadership of a former soldier of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. They have already faced allegations of having committed these crimes. This was reported in the press service of the office.
It is noted that the investigation established that the abduction was committed by two members of the illegal armed group "Self-defense of Crimea" under the leadership of a former serviceman of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, who afterward participated in military actions in Eastern Ukraine and committed a similar crime in April 2014.
"More than five years ago, in the occupied Crimea, Crimean Tatar activist Reshat Ametov was kidnapped and tortured to death. Speaking against the occupation of the peninsula, he went on a solitary picket and never returned back to his family and loved ones. Thanks to the cooperation of the prosecutor’s office, the police and a human rights organization, a crime has been solved and abductors were notified of suspicions," said the Crimean prosecutor Gunduz Mamedov.
The prosecutor’s office of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea has already notified these three individuals of the suspicion charges under part 2 of Article 260 of the Ukrainian Criminal Code (participation in extralegal military formation) and part 3 of Article 146 of Ukrainian Criminal Code (illegal deprivation of freedom of a person, by prior organized conspiracy, entailing grave consequences). The suspects are put on the international wanted list.
Previously, on 3 March, 2014, Reshat Ametov was kidnapped by unknown people in camouflage uniforms in the center of Simferopol, where he held a single picket against the occupation of Crimea. His body was found on 15 March 2014 in the field of Zemlyanichnoye village, Belogorsk district, with stab wounds in the left eye socket and other numerous injuries. His head was tied with tape, and his hands were handcuffed. He left three young children.
In April of the same year, the Investigative Committee of the Investigative Department of the Russian Federation in the Republic of Crimea opened a criminal case on the fact of the murder of Reshat Ametov. In 2015, the case was suspended. The “Investigation” did not identify individuals involved in the murder of Reshat Ametov.
The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine stated it had received information that indicates the involvement of Crimean self-defense group in the disappearance and murder of Reshat Ametov. The same opinion was expressed by Eskender Bariiev, a member of Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, the head of the board of the CTRC. He noted that no one had investigated the “case”, since everything indicates that this was an order of the leaders of “self-defense”. He also added that Reshat Ametov is a symbol of a struggle for Ukraine’s integrity against Russian aggression in 2014.