The Crimean Tatar Resource Center continues to talk about family persecution in occupied Crimea and today we want to share with you the story of the family of Zera Suleymanova, from whom the Russian occupiers took two sons Ruslan and Eskender Suleymanov.
The story of this family is very tragic…
Ruslan Suleymanov was the first to be detained after mass searches in the houses of Crimean Tatars on March 27, 2019. He was accused of participating in the Hizb ut-Tahrir organization. On November 30, 2022, the court sentenced the man to 14 years in a maximum security colony.
On June 10, 2019, Russian occupiers came for their second son, Eskender Suleymanov. The scenario remained the same. He was also accused of participating in the Hizb ut-Tahrir organization. On March 18, 2022, Eskender Suleymanov was sentenced to 15 years in a maximum security colony, of which the first 5 years were in prison.
However, the misfortunes of this family did not end there. On July 24, 2020, a three-year-old Crimean Tatar, the son of Ruslan Suleymanov, Musa Suleymanov, disappeared in occupied Crimea. The child was playing near the house with his older sister and was left without adult supervision for 10-15 minutes because his mother was called by her sick mother-in-law.
On July 26, 2020, after a day and a half of active searches, the body of a boy was found in a cesspool near the house. Moreover, Ruslan Suleymanov was not even allowed to attend his son’s funeral.
With the arrest of Ruslan Suleymanov and his brother Eskender Suleymanov, the entire burden of supporting a family consisting of three young children – Muhammad, Asie and Musa, as well as parents – Zera Suleymanova and Server Suleymanov, fell on Elzara, Ruslan’s wife.
Naturally, in the opinion of the CTRC, all persons involved in the obviously unlawful detention of Ruslan Suleymanov in places of detention and in the pressure on his family are also certainly involved in the tragic death of his son, even if it really was a tragic accident, and not a special operation of the Russian special services intimidation of the Crimean Tatar people.
2 searches, 2 criminal cases, 1 death? 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.