Russian occupiers in Crimea launch wave of persecution against Crimean Tatars on Ukraine’s Independence Day – Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Recently, the Independence Day of Ukraine was a cause for fresh persecution of the Crimean Tatars by the Russian occupying powers in Crimea.

The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported this.

The department noted that on August 24, at four o'clock in the morning, Russian security forces raided the homes of Crimean Tatars in Bakhchisarai and the Bakhchisarai district of Crimea.

Russian Federal Security Service's officers detained six people:

• Remzi Nimetulaeva,
• Ruslan Asanova,
• Seydamet Mustafayev,
• Amethana Umerova,
• Eldar Yakubov.

Abdulmejit Seytumerov, the brother of two Crimean political prisoners from Bakhchisarai, who were arrested in March 2020 and sentenced to 14 and 17 years, is also detained. All the detainees are activists of the "Crimean Solidarity" organization.

Already on August 25, the occupiers in Crimea drew up protocols for more than two dozen detained Crimean Tatars who came to the Kyiv District Court in Simferopol to support their relatives and friends.

"At the police station, summonses were issued to all the detainees. Among the detainees was also 64-year-old Remzi Zudiev, the father of journalist and human rights defender Lutfia Zudieva, a person with several confirmed chronic diseases, who was deprived of the possibility of mandatory medication," the statement emphasized.

The occupation "court" decided on administrative arrests for several Crimean Tatars for periods of 4 to 7 days.

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry condemned these persecutions on wholly fabricated charges and called on the international community, particularly the participants of the International Crimean Platform, to continue to pressure Russia to immediately release all illegally imprisoned Ukrainian citizens.

The ministry also called for sanctions against officials persecuting Ukrainian citizens.

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It should be noted that the military has stepped up its repression of Ukrainians in the territories temporarily occupied by Russia. The occupiers are now checking people's phones to see if they have Ukrainian music on them.

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