On Monday, June 7, activists of the international movement for the de-occupation of Crimea and solidarity with the Crimean Tatar people #LIBERATECRIMEA spoke about the interim results and dynamics of the previously initiated campaign MP, help the prisoners of the Kremlin! It provides for the patronage of Ukrainian parliamentarians over Crimeans who have been arrested or persecuted by the Russian occupants. MPs of Ukraine, relatives of political prisoners and human rights activists also joined the event.
The speakers were:
– Eskender Bariiev – Head of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center, Head of the Department of Legal Affairs and Foreign Affairs of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People,
– Volodymyr Ariev – MP from the European Solidarity faction;
– Solomiia Bobrovska – MP from the Voice faction;
– Aliie Emiruseinova – wife of political prisoner Rustem Emiruseinov.
Eskender Bariiev recalled that now, according to the Crimean Tatar Resource Center, there are 231 political prisoners and persecuted in the so-called criminal cases during the occupation of Crimea, 158 of them are representatives of the Crimean Tatar people:
1) 60 people were convicted and are serving time in colonies, 36 of them are Crimean Tatars;
2) 59 people are held in pre-trial detention centers, 44 of them are Crimean Tatars;
3) 30 – have restrictions or a probation, 19 of them are the representatives of the indigenous people,
4) 32 people are persecuted, 26 of them are Crimean Tatars;
5) 50 were released, 33 of which are the representatives of the Crimean Tatar people.
MP from the European Solidarity faction Volodymyr Ariev stressed the importance of the campaign MP, Help the Prisoners of the Kremlin!
“In fact, those MPs who have connections with international legal and human rights organizations can be most useful in protecting the Crimean Tatar people from the repressions of the occupiers. I took that family (Omerovs, Ismailovs), which is a very illustrative example of how the invaders deal with active representatives of the Crimean Tatar people who oppose the Russian government”,- he explained.
MP Solomiia Bobrovska said she is actively working to attract other MPs to the campaign.
“I know that I had to facilitate the involvement of my fellow MPs from the Voice faction in this large-scale event today, which I have not done. But I undertake to do this, and I know that Servants of the People will also support this initiative, and especially those who are chairpersons of parliamentary delegations”,- she added.
Activist Serhii Parkhomenko believes that it is very important to make this initiative more public, and therefore turned to the MPs with the following proposal:
– to hold a briefing within the walls of the Verkhovna Rada, to gather the MPs who have already joined and who intend to do so, and to tell the press about this initiative, which will certainly attract the attention of not only Ukrainian society, but also the international one.
The wife of political prisoner Rustem Emiruseinov, Aliie Emiruseinova, noted that until now, at the trial, not a single proof of her husband's involvement in terrorist activities had been provided. The arguments referred to by the prosecution and which formed the basis of the verdict in the so-called terrorism case are not weapons or explosives, not planning violent actions, not seizing power or overthrowing the constitutional order.
“The arguments that formed the basis of the sentence of 17 years of imprisonment are only conversations and discussions on religious and socio-political topics. Unfortunately, it is precisely so absurd and at the same time absolutely groundless and these false accusations, that are a lie, lead to unthinkable terms of imprisonment for such cases, for the so-called terrorism”,- she stressed.
“When we talk about supporting political prisoners, we do not mean financial aid. We primarily talk about political patronage, because when politicians pay attention, our compatriots can at least protect themselves from torture”,- Eskender Bariiev summed up.
We remind that the International Movement for the De-occupation of Crimea and Solidarity with the Crimean Tatar People #LIBERATECRIMEA within the framework of the international campaign Atalık (Godfather) launched the campaign MP, Help the Prisoners of the Kremlin!, in which it called on Ukrainian MPs to take patronage over the Crimeans, who were arrested or persecuted by the Russian occupants.
On February 24, during the round table Crimean Platform: the path to the de-occupation of Crimea organized by the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Human Rights, De-occupation and Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories, MP from the Voice faction Solomiia Bobrovska publicly supported the campaign and took two political prisoners: the defendant in the so-called Yalta Hizb ut-Tahrir case Refat Alimov, as well as Halyna Dovhopola, who is accused of espionage.
On March 10, MP from the European Solidarity faction Volodymyr Ariev also publicly supported the campaign MP, Help the Prisoners of the Kremlin! and took patronage over three political prisoners: over the defendant in the so-called first Simferopol Hizb ut-Tahrir case Rustem Ismailov, as well as over the defendants in the so-called Bilohirsk Hizb ut-Tahrir case – Enver Omerov and Riza Omerov.