The Crimean Tatar Resource Center begins a series of publications about the life stories and the fate of the Crimean Tatar families that were prepared within the project “Hostages of the Occupation”. In the first publication, you will come to know the CrimeanTatar lawyer Lilia Hemedzhi.
After 2014, her life has changed quite dramatically. Until that time, she had been on maternity leave for a long time and had just begun to practice. She was dealing exclusively with civil cases: divorces, alimony, domestic accidents. In 2014-2015, her focus area shifted to the problem “Individual vs. State”, in other words, human rights cases. After mass searches and arrests, Lilia Hemedzhi delved into criminal practice without having a license yet. She realized that being certified as a lawyer can be useful to her people in such a troubling time. She is open and accessible to anyone, ready to help everyone whose rights have been violated.
Not surprisingly, her activities did not go unnoticed by the authorities.
“I try not to be paranoid, but my colleagues and I constantly feel pressure, mostly psychological. For example, surveillance. We even managed to record this on camera. We are aware that this is a warning sign. The other example of pressure is complaints. There is a danger of being deprived of a lawyer’s license and getting administrative punishments. My colleagues already experience that. Nevertheless, we do not stop our activity. We understand that our retreat will affect not only us personally but all our people,” says lawyer Lilia Hemedzhi.
In today's troubling times, the most important thing, in her opinion, is to remain true to yourself. Not being ashamed of being a Crimean Tatar and a Muslim! This is especially relevant in today’s Crimea! She is often asked whether she would like to move to Kyiv or another country. To which she invariably replies: “No, we did not return to Crimea so that we could leave somewhere else! Crimea is everything to me! Crimea is the land of my ancestors, it is the graves of my ancestors, it is the sea, the mountains, the steppes. I cannot live without them”.
She dreams of painting. The inspiration visits her often but there is very little time. She paints whenever she finds a free minute, wherever possible, in work notebooks, notepads.
Project manager: Zarema Bariieva
Author of pictures: Lieniara Abibulaieva
Text writer: Alemkhan Sary
Translation into English: Zarema Bariieva
We remind that on February 26 in Kyiv, the presentation of the album and the exhibition “Hostages of the Occupation” took place, which tell us about the fate of 20 Crimean Tatar families after the annexation of the peninsula. On March 10, the exhibition opened in Vinnytsia. The exhibition is expected to be presented in Lviv and Dnipro as well.
The project was prepared by the Crimean Tatar Resource Center with the support of the Democracy Grants Program of the US Embassy to Ukraine.