Eskender Bariiev, the Head of the Board of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center, member of Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, told in an interview with CrimeaRealia that he knew the previously arrested Eldar Mensitov personally.
They lived in the same village, in Molodizhne. In 2013, Eldar was elected the head of Molodizhne local Mejlis. According to Bariiev, after the search of Eldar’s house in September 2021 in the case of the gas pipeline explosion in Perevalne, he did not conduct public activities.
“Why did they suddenly remember about Eldar and start these illegal actions? He was at work, and he only managed to contact his wife on his way home. On his way home, he was abducted. Thanks to the active actions of his neighbors, people and lawyers, they found out (where Eldar Mensitov is). I have information that he was tortured. Most likely, that’s what happened. Then, activists and neighbors found him. They found out that he was in a special reception center, and then it became known that he had been sentenced to 15 days of restriction of liberty,” he said.
Bariiev stressed that if Mensitov is being persecuted for his past involvement in Mejlis, then more than 2,500 people may be subjected to a new wave of pressure from Russian security forces on this ground.
“Mejlis-Kurultai system is 248 delegates of Kurultai of the Crimean Tatar people. Now, of course, there are those among them who have passed away. There are members of Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people. They are elected from among Kurultai delegates. And when we talk about the system of local and regional Mejlises, we are talking about the number of settlements where Crimean Tatars live and, accordingly, where elections were held, members of local Mejlises, members of regional Mejlises and, accordingly, heads of regional Mejlises were elected. That is why Eldar Mensitov is one of those who represented the local bodies of national government of the Crimean Tatars,” the expert explained.