The Crimean Tatar Resource Center continues to talk about family persecution in the occupied Crimea and today we want to share with you the story of the family of Fatima Yanikova, from whom the Russian occupiers took her husband Farkhod Bazarov, brother Asan Yanikov and diver (husband’s brother) Alim Karimov.
All three men were arrested in the same day…
They were taken away after mass searches in Crimea on March 27, 2019. Then Russian security forces conducted searches in 26 houses of Crimean Tatars. Literature that the security forces themselves planted was confiscated from some activists. In addition to books and brochures, people’s phones, tablets, laptops, and passports were confiscated. The security forces behaved rudely. They used physical force against detainees in front of everyone, including in the presence of small children.
Farkhod Bazarov, Asan Yanikov and Alim Karimov were accused of participating in the Hizb ut-Tahrir organization banned in the Russian Federation. All were chosen as a preventive measure in the form of detention. After several years of illegal trials, the occupiers handed down enormous sentences to them:
Bazarov Farkhod was sentenced to 15 years of imprisonment in a maximum security colony with the first 4 years and 10 months to be served in prison and freedom of movement restricted for 1 year after release.
Alim Karimov was sentenced to 13 years of imprisonment in a maximum security colony with restriction of freedom of movement after release for 1 year and 6 months.
Yanikov Asan was sentenced to 15 years in a maximum security colony, of which the first 5 years were in prison, and 1 year of restriction of freedom of movement after release.
Moreover, Fatime herself came under repression. On November 24, 2021, the occupiers imposed a fine of 10 thousand rubles on her for allegedly violating public order under Article 20.2.2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation. Although the woman simply came to meet lawyer Edem Semedlyaev, who was released from arrest.
One day, the life of an entire family changed completely. Five children – four of Fatima’s children and one child of her husband’s brother – were left without parents.
3 searches, 3 criminal cases, 1 administrative case? Isn’t it too much repression for one family?
We believe and know that justice will be restored very soon and one day all the prisoners from this family will definitely return home, and the occupiers will be responsible for the persecution and repression committed against each family member.