Russian-controlled Crimean court “sentences” former leader of Crimean Tatar Medjlis to two years in prison

Denys Karlovskyy — Friday, 22 April 2022, 16:01

A Russian-controlled court in the temporarily occupied Crimea has issued an order to "imprison" the former leader of the Crimean Tatar Medjlis (council - ed.) and Ukrainian MP Mustafa Dzhemilev.

Source: Russian state-controlled Krym-Inform

Details: An occupation government court in Armyansk (northern Crimea) "sentenced" Dzhemilev to two years in prison conditionally, with a two-year probatory term. Despite that, the court also stated that Dzhemilev will not have to serve this "sentence" because of an "amnesty".

Russian law enforcement in occupied Crimea filed a legal case against the MP for alleged illegal crossing of Russia’s state border, meaning Dzhemilev’s crossing of the administrative line between Kherson region and occupied Crimea in May 2014.

He was also accused of "negligent handling of firearms that caused serious consequences." Allegedly, Dzhemilev purchased a 7.62 mm carabin and handed it over for safekeeping to his son. In connection to that, he was also under "investigation" for illegal acquisition and storage of ammunition.

Background: Mustafa Dzhemilev is a public figure and politician of Crimean Tatar origin. He served as the Chairperson of the Crimean Tatar Medjlis between 1991 and 2013. Prior to 1991, Dzhemilev was a Soviet dissident frequently imprisoned and tortured by Soviet authorities for his open resistance to the forced deportation of Crimean Tatars to Central Asia and the Soviet ban on their repatriation to Crimea.

Between 2014 and 2019, Dzhemilev served as the President’s Envoy for Crimean Tatars’ Affairs. In July 2019, he was elected to the Ukrainian parliament as a member of Evropeyska Solidarnist (Ukrainian for ‘European Solidarity’, the party of Ukraine’s former President Petro Poroshenko).

Dzhemilev played an important role in the diplomatic push for the de-occupation of Crimea, particularly in cooperation with the Turkish government, as well as the liberation of Ukrainian political prisoners and the protection of human rights in Russian occupied Crimea. In 2022, Dzhemilev was nominated as a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize.

See also: Crimean Tatars. The story of repatriation 

Background:

• The legal case against Dzhemilev was handed over to the Crimean "court" in violation of procedure, without notifying the suspect or his attorneys.
• After the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Dzhemilev talked publicly about the situation on the occupied peninsula. He specifically mentioned Ukrainian POWs being transferred to Crimea en masse, and Ukrainian belongings that had been looted by the Russian army being sold there. At the same time, despite multiple promises from the Russian occupation government, water supply through the Northern Crimean Channel had not been restored, and Russian losses in Ukraine were being played down.
• Dzhemilev met the Turkish President Recep Erdogan in March 2022, where the two officials discussed diplomatic efforts to achieve peace in Ukraine and the future of Russian-occupied Crimea.
• In March 2021, the Russian occupation authorities in Crimea extended the entry ban for Dzhemilev till 2034. The Ukrainian General Prosecutor’s Office is investigating this issue.