On April 26, 2016, the Supreme Court of Crimea illegally ruled to ban the activities of the representative body of the Crimean Tatars – the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people. It was recognized as an extremist organization and banned on the territory of the occupied Crimea and the Russian Federation. For the seventh year now, the CTRC team, along with authoritative international organizations and institutions, has been fighting against the illegal decision of the occupiers.
It should be noted that in addition to banning the body itself, the Russian Federation is carrying out repressions against members of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people. Criminal cases have been fabricated against many members of this body in Russia. It should be noted that the deputy chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, Nariman Dzhelyal, is still in prison in Russia on a fabricated case. He was sentenced to 17 years in prison with a fine of 700 thousand rubles and with restriction of freedom for 1.5 years after his dismissal. Also, the chairman of the Sudak Regional Mejlis, Ilver Ametov, who was previously sentenced to 8 months of freedom restriction by the occupants, was subjected to harassment by the occupiers, fined and conducted illegal searches.
For its part, the Crimean Tatar Resource Center regularly sends reports and reports to the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples, the UN Expert Mechanism on the rights of indigenous peoples, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to peaceful assembly and freedom of association, in which it points out the illegality of this decision and Russia’s failure to comply with the Interim Judgment of the International Court of Justice. In addition, representatives of the organization speak about the illegality of the ban on the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people in many speeches at international venues.
Recall that on January 16, 2017, Ukraine started a case against the Russian Federation in the International Court of Justice. Kyiv accuses Moscow of numerous and systematic violations of the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. In April 2017, the International Court of Justice decided to apply interim measures against the actions of the Russian Federation in the occupied Crimea. Thus, the UN Court in The Hague ordered the Russian Federation to ensure the work of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, but the Russian Federation does not comply with this decision.