Jan 25, 2018

Timeline: Escalation of The Crisis in Crimea


Since the ousting of Ukraine's former president Yanukovych, a serious political crisis has unfolded and progressively escalated in Crimea over the past months. In this context, the Crimean Tatars, having witnessed first an invasion by Russian forces, and later the illegimate annexation of their homeland to the Russian Federation, are now facing an extremely difficult situation.

22 August 2018 Oleg Sentsov enters his one hundredth day of hunger strike over the issue of his imprisonment over charges relating to his vocal opposition to Russian annexation of Crimea, with his health being reported as critical.

09 August 2018 Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko delivers a speech on the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, reminding his audience of the fate of the Crimean Tatars and the new policy Ukraine has adopted in attempting to protect their rights. A new resolution on Crimea is expected to be submitted at the UN General Assembly.

 08 August 2018 A Crimean Tatar activist sets himself on fire in protest of the annexation, just as reports emerge of Belarus Secret Police interviewing Crimean Tatars with Ukrainian ties.

13 July 2018 Volodymyr Balukh, a Crimean Tatar who has been convicted by the occupied Crimea's Russian-controlled court, enters his 120th day of hunger strike.

06 June 2018: Ukraine commemorates the genocide of Crimean Tatars in 1944. Despite evidence of Tatars fighting in Soviet ranks, the Stalinist regime accused the Tatars of collaborating with the German invaders, leading to some 183.000 forced deportations, mostly to Siberia or other remote regions.

28 May 2018: Asan Egiz, a delegate at the Crimean Tatar Qurultay is abducted in Crimea, beaten and left on a highway. Egiz is a vocal opponent of the annexation and an active member of Tatar civil society. His abduction is one of many arbitrary and targeted stop and searches by Russian law enforcement that escalate into abductions and disappearances.

27 May 2018: Ukraine accuses Moscow of bringing up to 1 million Russians in Crimea in a bid to ethnically homogenise the region and marginalise the Tatar community.

26 May 2018: The European Commission’s Neighbourhood DG calls on Russia to release filmmaker Oleh Sentsov as well as several other Crimean activists held arbitrarily by occupation authorities in the Peninsula.

24 May 2018: Russia refuses to investigate into the abduction of a Tatar activist, despite this being on tape. Ervin Ibragimov was a member of the Executive Committee of the World Congress of Crimean Tatars.

08 May 2018: Russian repression continues with the arrest of prominent Crimean Tatar businessmen Resul Velilyaev. Reports emerge that Velilyaev was denied access to lawyers by the Russian government, who accuse him of engaging in activities relating to terrorism.

02 May 2018: EU Delegation to Ukraine condemns human rights violations against Crimean Tatars, in what they call an attempt to repress the culture, traditions and identity of ethnic minorities in the region.

24 April 2018: Ukraine appeals to the UN International Court of Justice to provide an explanation regarding its decision to oblige Russia to resume activities of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people. The Mejlis continues to be suppressed by the Russian government as an organization despite the ICJ court ruling of 2017.

16 April 2018: Mejlis delegation speaks out at the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. Akthem Chiygoz, member of the Meijis, hoped to raise awareness of the situation in the occupied Province.

12 April 2018: UNESCO approves decision to send a monitoring mission to Crimea, hoping to protect cultural monuments in Crimea belonging to ethnic minorities, including the Bakhchisaray Palace.

29 March 2018: The Ukrainian TV Channel UA starts broadcasting in the Crimean Peninsula after Russia previously shut down attempts of Tatar broadcasts.

24 March 2018: The Ministry of Temporary Occupied Territories and Internally Displaced Persons in Ukraine reports that the Russian Federation’s law enforcement has detained a citizen of Ukraine illegally. Nariman Memedinov is a journalist and he was detained in Kholmivka, Crimea, and charged with allegedly extremist statements.

19 March 2018 Crimean Tatars face possible repercussions after boycotting the Russian election. The highly controversial election has seen no independent observers in the peninsula despite being one of the more contentious regions.

27 February 2018 The Russian government has decided to place six nuclear warheads in the occupied territory of Crimea, deepening the crisis affecting the local population, whose livelihood will suffer from the environmental and political repercussions.

23 February 2018 A Tatar Woman is being prosecuted for wanting to see her husband, a political prisoner in jail for alleged terrorism charges.

09 February 2018 Advisor to the Head of the Crimean Tatar Mejlis, Mr Arsen Zhumadilov, appeared on UATV to discuss the gross human rights violations committed by Russian authorities in the annexed Crimean Peninsula target the indigenous Tatars most, as the most outspoken opposition.

02 February 2018 U.S. Mission to the OSCE issues strong statement condemning Russia’s Violations of International Law in Ukraine. The statement draws particular attention to the situation of the Crimean Tatars, who are described by the American report to be “harassed” and “persecuted with impunity”. The statement concluded by saying: "We do not, nor will we ever, recognize Russia's occupation and purported annexation of Crimea. Crimea-related sanctions on Russia will remain in place until Russia returns full control of the peninsula to Ukraine."

31 January 2018 Suleyman Kadyrov, a Crimean Tatar civic activist, is heard by a Russian court over comments relating to Crimea’s status. The Ukrainian citizen is facing a possible 5-year sentence in Russia for suggesting Crimea should be part of Ukraine.

25 January 2018: Crimean Tatars Enver Krosh and Ebazer Islyamov were arrested and charged with propagating extremist symbols and organisations after their homes were searched and various of their belongings seized by the police.

19 January 2018:  The pattern of imprisonments of several elderly Tatar activists and representatives shows once again the brutal methods used by Russian forces to solve problems in Crimea: many of the activists, who already suffer from various health problems, have been constrained to be subjected to tortures.

18 January 2018: Human Rights Watch brings attention to the concerning situation in Donbass and Crimea. According to the renowned human rights organization, the Tatar population is suffering from more and more abuses and discrimination by the Russian authority because of its pro-Ukraine support, creating more than a simple concern for the Tatar representatives.

18 January 2018: Since the illegal annexation of the Crimean Peninsula, the Russian Federation has been implementing a brutal regime of lawlessness. Mustafa Dzhemilev, the Chairman of Mejlis, raises awareness about the ongoing impunity of acts perpetrated by the Russian occupying forces towards the indigenous population.

17 January 2018:The international community and the European Parliament demanded that Russia respect International Law and Human Rights by freeing activists and normal citizens that are in prison for their patriotic sentiment. Among them particular attention is given to the story of Balukh, one of many protesters who have been detained for speaking up against the Russian occupation in Crimea.

15 December 2017: Radio Ukraine recently announced an initiative to be launched by 2018, to bring Ukrainian news to Crimea by presenting news in Tatar. Currently the majority of the media available in Crimea is controlled by Russia and publish only in Russian, making it difficult for the Crimean Tatar minority on the peninsula to follow the news and maintain its ties to Ukraine.

05 December 2017: Crimean activist Marlen (Suleyman) Asanov has been awarded the title of “Ukraine’s Volunteer of the Year”.Prior to the Russian illegal annexation of Crimea, Marlen Asanov had been a teacher of Tatar language and literature. However, since Crimea’s fall under Russian occupation, he has worked to provide assistance to political prisoners and their families. Today, Marlen Asanov remains imprisoned since his arrest in October 2017 for his political activity.

04 December 2017:  The International Criminal Court released a new report containing results about violations of fundamental rights in Crimea covering the period between  2014 and 2017. The information contained within the report is relevant because it looks step by step into the allegations that have been raised against the Russian Federation and how historical facts took place.

24 November 2017 : Tatar leader Dzhemilev denounces the fact that hundreds of thousands of people are moving to Crimea from the Russian-Speaking regions of Ukraine, Donetsk and Luhansk, and from the Russian Dederation. It would be a real invasion according to the representatives of the Ukrainian government that call for the respect of the Geneva Convention.

8 November 2017: Illegal searches took place in the houses of Crimean Tatar activists and members of the Crimean Solidarity movement Seytumer Seytumerov, Eldar Kantemirov, Ekrem Abdulvatov, Alimdar (Ruslan) Belyalov and Khalid Belyalov. Five more Crimean Tatars were also taken to the police.

25 October 2017: Russian Authorities released Akhmet Tchiïgoz and Ilmi Umerov, originally arrested for their opposition to Moscow’s annexation of the Crimean peninsula. The President of the Crimean Tatar Assembly acknowledged the roles of Ukrainian, German and Turkish heads of states, and their “two weeks of active hard work”, in obtaining the release of the two prisoners.

14 October 2017: Up to 49 people were detained following one-person protests staged against the ongoing suppression of Crimean Tatars. Olha Skripnik, head of Crimean Human Rights Group, states that these detentions violate the right of expression and freedom of speech. 

5 October 2017: The State Department of the United States (US) condemned the decision of the Russian State-appointed judges who sentenced Ilmi Umerov to a two-year imprisonment. The decision was also denounced by the European Union together with human rights organisations as a serious human rights violation and an example of the systematic persecution endured by the Tatar community in Crimea. 

27 September 2017: Crimean Tatar leader Ilmi Umerov was convicted by Russian-appointed judges in Simferopol on spurious separatism charges. 

26 September 2017: According to a report by the United Nations (UN), Russia is committing grave human rights violations in the illegally annexed Crimean peninsula. The report outlines that law enforcement agencies have been involved in numerous incidents of human rights violation, such as arbitrary arrests and detentions, enforced disappearances, ill-treatment and torture and at least one extra-judicial execution. The report stresses that Crimean Tatars and particularly those with links to the highest representative body, the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatars, were particularly subjected to these violations ever since the Mejlis had boycotted the bogus referendum on joining Russia in March 2014. The report also documents how Russia systematically curtails the Crimean Tatars’ civil, political and cultural rights by banning the Mejlis and jailing Crimean Tatar leaders.

11 September 2017: Crimean Tatar leader Akhtem Chiygoz was sentenced to eight years in prison. The Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has condemned the ruling and Chiygoz’s lawyers have requested his extradition to the Ukraine on the basis of an unlawful judgement.

01 September 2017: Crimean Tatar journalist, Mykola Semena, has seen his trial adjourned after the first hearing in weeks (on 31 August). This marks little progress toward a resolution of Semena’s case.

29 August 2017: Russian engineers are preparing to install a bridge between Russia and Crimea, a project that would greatly develop Crimea connection to Moscow. The bridge is seen as a statement of Kremlin’s political control over the illegally occupied territory. This occurs at a time when several Crimean Tatar activists continue to face lengthy jail terms.

18 August 2017: 76-year-old Crimean Tatar, Server Karametov, was brutally arrested for peacefully protesting in front of the Crimean capital’s Court of Justice in support of political prisoner Ahtem Ciygoz. He was charged with breaching the procedure for holding a single picket outside Simferopol’s Court of Justice, with alleged resistance to the police. During the first hours after his arrest, Mr Karametov was denied water, food and medication despite his serious illness and was fined 10,000 rubbles. He was finally released after 10 days’ imprisonment and wholeheartedly welcomed by his fellow Crimean Tatar activists after being left alone at a bus station.

14 August 2017: 5 Crimean Tatars activists denounced Server Karametov’s brutal arrest by standing with pickets in front of Russia-controlled governmental premises. They were arrested and questioned by the police for more than 4 hours.

10 August 2017: Russian lawyer Nikolai Polozov compared Russia under President Putin with Nazi Germany, after a court in Crimea sentenced his client, Ahtem Ciygoz, to eight years imprisonment. Polozov criticised Crimea’s illegal takeover and drew a parallel with Austria’s annexation under Hitler. The lawyer also denounced the Kremlin’s ongoing muzzling of civil society and political opponents in Russia and in neighbouring countries.

08 August 2017: Human Rights in Ukraine denounced the brutal arrest of a 76-year-old Crimean Tatar for having showed his support to Ahtem Ciygoz in front of the Crimean capital’s Court of Justice.

07 August 2017: Crimean Tatar Leader, Ahtem Ciygoz was convicted to eight years in prison for his participation in the organization of an illegal demonstration in Simferopol in February 2014. Ciygoz’ defenders reject these “absurd” allegations, since the protest was held before Russia’s illegal annexation of the peninsula.

03 August 2017: Russian-nominated judges held a new hearing in the trial of RFE/RL contributor, Mykola Semena, taking in consideration the UN General Assembly’s resolution on human rights in Crimea, passed in December 2016. The trial was postponed several times since it began in March 2017. The journalist is accused on grounds of separatism and faces up to 5 years in jail.

22 July 2017: Incarcerated Crimean Tatar activist Ruslan Zeytullayev was resentenced to a total of 15 years imprisonment, after a court found him guilty of creating a cell of the banned Hizb ut-Tahrir Islamic group in Crimea. Zeytullayev was first condemned to 12 year imprisonment.

11 July 2017: A court in Russia decided that, Rafis Kashapov, a preeminent activist who has criticised Russia’s treatment of Crimean Tatars, will be barred from both political and public activities for eight years. This is said to be an unprecedented decision in Russia. In a politically motivated trial held on 15 September 2015, Kashapov was sentenced to three years in prison by Russian authorities for allegedly inciting ethnic hatred.

4 July 2017: The Crimean Tatar leader, Mustafa Dzhemilev, met with Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erodgan to call attention to the plight of Crimean Tatars.

28 June 2017: An exhibition of cultural and historical heritage of the Crimean Tatar people opened at the Council of Europe. The opening ceremony was attended by Crimean Tatar leader Mustafa Dzhemilev. This followed the Days of Crimea hosted by the international organisation.

26 June 2017: the Day of the Crimean Tatar National Flag, both the Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar flags were raised over the Kyiv office of the Mejlis - the self-governing body of the Tatars. One hundred years ago, in 1917, the flag was approved during the first Kurultai assembly, its colours and symbols filled with history and values and represent the unity of the nation. But it is almost a century later, in 2010, that 26 June was chosen as the official day for the celebration of the Crimean Tatars National Flag.

23 June 2017: Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs strongly condemned the decision of Simferopol’s Supreme Court to extend detention of Ahtem Ciygoz until 8 October 2017. The MFA demanded Moscow to cease reprisals against the Crimean Tatar activist and to stop persecution against the people of Crimea.

22 June 2017: A court in Russian-occupied Crimea prolonged the detention of Ahtem Ciygoz for another three months. The Crimean Tatar activist has been imprisoned for more than two years without a judicial verdict being given, charged with “organizing public disorder” for involvement in street clashes between pro-Ukrainian and pro-Russian supporters in February 2014. Earlier this month, after protests from human rights activists, he had been allowed a 10-minute visit to his ill mother, who died a couple of days later. Ciygoz was not allowed to participate in the funerals.

29 May 2017: Concluding a conference held on this issue, Lithuania further extended its support to the Crimean Tatar community. Former ambassadors of Lithuania proposed to set up ‘informal centres’ in world capitals to represent and report on Crimean Tatars’ interests in Crimea, as part of their recommendations to address the ongoing and illegal occupation of the Crimean Peninsula by Russia.

03 May 2017: Crimean journalist and RFE/RL contributor Mykola Semena’s trial was postponed. The reporter was falsely accused of separatism in the Russian-occupied peninsula after he had published an article for RFE/RL Krym.Realii. Semena’s trial started on 20 March and has already been adjourned three times. The defendant rejects the allegations and claims to have been wrongly accused. The United States, the European Union and other international media watchdogs have already condemned the charges made against the journalist.

28 April 2017: Crimean Tatar Ruslan Zeytullaev was sentenced to 12 years of detention by the North-Caucasian Military District Court for his supposedly involvement in an allegedly ‘terrorist’ organization, the Mejlis, which is legal in most countries, including in Ukraine. Mr Zeytullaev has been on a 22-days hunger strike to denounce his unfair detention and the persecution of his peers.

21 April 2017: The UN International Court of Justice (ICJ) reiterated its condemnation of the illegal annexation of Crimea by Moscow. The ICJ strongly criticized the ban of the Crimean Tatars representative body, the Mejlis, and recognized the discrimination and crackdown inflicted on the Tatar minority.

20 April 2017: The International Court of Justice (ICJ) turned down Kiev’s demand to force Moscow to cease supporting pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine. The ICJ explained that “the conditions required for the indication of provisional measures” were not met by Kiev. Ukraine denounced the presence and involvement of Russian military forces in the conflict. However, the ICJ did not omit to condemn Russia’s “racial discrimination” against Crimean Tatars and other ethnic minorities living in the Peninsula.

20 April 2017: The Law “On the Ukrainian Cultural Fund” and “On State Support of Cinematography in Ukraine” were signed by President Poroshenko. These laws will guarantee Kiev’s support to Crimean Tatar cinema, thus preserving Crimean Tatar language, endangered since Crimea’s illegal annexation.

14 April 2017: Crimean Tatar activist Suleiman Kadyrov was placed on Moscow’s long “List of Terrorists and Extremists”. This happened after Kadyrov’s post on social media challenging Russia’s illegal occupation of Crimea. The Crimean Tatar activist faced inconsistent trial procedures, strongly contested by his supporters. The defendant didn’t benefit from the presumption of innocence and was deprived of his pension.

12 April 2017: The Russian Duma has approved a bill aimed at changing the date of the country’s 2018 presidential election. The authors of the law proposed to hold the election on 18 March instead of 11 March. The 2018 election would in this case take place on the day marking the fourth anniversary of Moscow’s illegal seizure of Crimea. Observers see in this change a way for Vladimir Putin to boost the election turnout and gain more votes. The bill has yet to be voted in the lower house of the parliament, but this seems to be just a formality.  

30 March 2017:  Russian military forces continue to commit human rights violations against Crimean Tatars with impunity. As for others dissidents, Crimean Tatars are forced to psychiatric hospitalization as a tool of political repression. Many Crimean activists were arrested for their ‘involvement in terrorist groups’, something that Ukrainian organization the Karkhiv Human Rights Protection Group  firmly denied.

24 March 2017: The Deputy Chairman of the Mejlis, Mr Ilmi Umerov, was charged of acts of separatism by a court in Crimea. This is the second time Mr Umerov has been accused of such acts. The defendant refutes the allegations, claiming his right to free speech. He will likely face trial in the coming weeks.

20 March 2017: Following the European Parliament’s (EP) lead, the government of the United States (US) condemned in a resolution the ongoing crackdown on the religious freedom and property rights of the Crimean Tatars. The US firmly requested Russia to stop all human rights violations in Crimea.

18 March 2017: Russia Celebrates the 3 years illegal annexation of Crimea. The festivities will take place even though Russian President Vladimir Putin will not be present.

16 March 2017:  A resolution condemning the deteriorating situation in Crimea has been voted by the European Parliament. Discriminatory policies towards the Crimean Tatars have been once again deeply condemned by Strasbourg. The European Parliament additionally called for the release of several Ukrainian activists arbitrarily detained in Russian and in the Crimean Peninsula.

15 March 2017: Crimean journalist Mykola Semena, based in Simferopol, risks 5 years of imprisonment for not agreeing to follow the editorial policy of the Crimea-based media outlets managed by pro-Russian directors. Officially he is accused of “violating the territorial integrity of Russia” and will be tried on 20 March 2017. Semena has been a journalist for 50 years.

4 March 2017: Release of Crimean Tatar activist Marlen Mustafaev.

March 2017: The UN’s International Court of Justice at The Hague has opened investigations against Russia based on the charges made by Ukraine.

24 February 2017: The Society for Threatened Peoples published a report listing human rights violation cases in Crimea in the last 12 months. The report draws attention to the calamitous situation of Crimean Tatars living under threat in the Peninsula. Moscow’s attempt to “russify” Crimea has set alarms bells ringing at the Society for Threatened Peoples. According to the report, more than 90 per cent of the 177 people arrested in the last few months were Crimean Tatars.

21 February 2017: Crimean Tatar activist Marlen Mustafaev was arrested by the OMON riot police officers and taken to the Centre for Countering Extremism. Mustafaev has been convicted to 11 days imprisonment for his supposed links to the Hizb ut-Tahrir organisation.

14 February 2017: Six additional Ukrainian media have been blocked in Crimea. This new ban completes the long list of media outlets that have been restricted not to say totally shut down in the Crimean region since 2015.

9 February 2017: Publication of the Statement by the Steering Committee of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum condemning Russian authorities’ actions in Crimea. The Forum has continued to express its deep concern on human rights’ violations in this region stating that “politically motivated cases fabricated by the Russian authorities are used as an instrument of political pressure on the citizens opposing the illegal actions of the Russian Federation in Crimea.”

5 February 2017: Release of attorney Emil Kurbedinov.

26 January 2017: Emil Kurbedinov, renowned attorney already in charge of several cases involving occupied Crimean activists and Russian authorities, has been arrested on the ground of “spreading extremist materials” by Russian authorities since he had to meet a Crimean Tatar activist, under Russian surveillance.

25 January 2017: Ilmi Umerov’s attorney, Nikolai Polozov, was detained and interrogated by the Russian Federal Security Service in Crimea. Mr Polozov defends the Deputy Head of the Mejilis of the Crimean Tatar People, who has been accused of extremism and presented by Russian media as “a threat to the Russian Federation’s territorial integrity”.

18 January 2017: Activists of the “Strategy 18” group gathered in Moscow to denounce the persecution of indigenous Crimean Tatars by Russian authorities .

19 December 2016: The Un General Assembly has voted a resolution condemning Russia’s occupation of the Crimean Peninsula and the “abuses” and “discrimination” towards Crimean Tatars and other ethnic groups. Furthermore, the UN has officially recognised Crimea as “temporarily occupied” by Russia. The General Assembly urged the end of all abuses against citizens living in Crimea.

15 December 2016: Amnesty International released a report “In the Dark: The Silence of Dissent” which severely condemns Russian authorities for their ruthless control in Crimea and their systematic persecution of Crimean Tatars.

13 December 2016: A court in Russian-annexed Crimea has prolonged the detention of the Crimean Tatar leader Mr Ahtem Ciygoz to 3 months – until 8 April 2017. Mr Ciygoz has been convicted of organising public “mass disorder” in February 2014. He has been in prison since January 2015.

7-10 November 2016: Crimean Tatar activist Nedim Khalilov has been deported from Crimea and forcibly sent to Uzbekistan via the Russian city Krasnodar. Khalilov showed great opposition to Russia’s invasion and illegal occupation of Crimea. In February 2016, he filed a civil suit asking for Russian authorities’ actions to be declared illegal by a local court. Khalilov became the group coordinator of the Resistance Movement of Crimean Tatars.

November 2016: Ukraine addressed a resolution to the UN, which obliged Kyiv to be in charge of the human rights protection of the people of Crimea, in order to stop any violations of the rights of the Crimean Tatars, Ukrainians and any other ethnic minorities living in Crimea. 38 countries including the USA, the UK, France supported the resolution.

 31 October 2016: The Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought delivered to two Yazidi activists caused some discord among Members of the European Parliament, since Crimean Tatar politician and human rights activist Mustafa Dzhemilev had apparently won the ballot for the shortlisting (held on the 11 October 2016). 

27 October 2016: Two Crimean Tatars prisoners have refused to be freed in exchange for giving false testimony against Crimean Tatar leader Akhtem Chiygoz. Ali Asanov and Mustafa Degermendzhy have been in jail since April 2015. They have been accused of a pre-annexation demonstration that took place on the 26 February 2016. Both activists have been declared political prisoners by the Russian Human Rights Centre “Memorial”.

18 October 2016: Nikolai Polozov, Russian lawyer defending political prisoners, among them Crimean Tatars leaders Ahtem Ciyogz and Ilmi Umerov, may face allegations against him by Russian authorities. The purpose of this prosecution is to discourage Polozov from defending the two Crimean Tatar activists.

October 2016: At least five Crimean Tatars were put into jail after being accused of being members of the Hizb ut-Tahrir, an organization labelled as “terrorist” in Russia, but legal in Ukraine. 

29 September 2016: Russian authorities put into force the ban of the Mejlis, the self-governing body of the main indigenous people of Crimea.

22 September 2016: UN Permanent Representative of Ukraine Yurii Klymenko highlighted the violation of the Crimean Tatars’ rights at the 33rd session of the United Nations Human Rights Council. Klymenko underlined the severe and harsh repression the Crimean Tatar have endured since the annexation of the Crimean Peninsula by Russian authorities.

August 2016: Checkpoints located between mainland Ukraine and Crimea have resumed. People heading to the Russian-occupied Crimea have been authorized to go through some checkpoints while people willing to reach mainland Ukraine have been blocked. Russian military hardware has been seen near Armyansk and Dzhankoy: troops with tanks blocked the entrance to this cities, for unknown reasons.

31 July 2016: During the 5th meeting of the World Congress of the Crimean Tatars, a list of reported victims since the Russian invasion in 2014 was set out – the Congress recognises that 9 people were killed, 15 kidnapped and 25 detained. The disappeared Crimean Tatars have been mourned during this World Congress.

22 July 2016: The First Deputy Minister of information policy of Ukraine Emine Dzheppar reported that according to their official numbers there have been in total 24 political prisoners, 16 missing citizens and 10 dead activists in Crimea. Among them 18 political prisoners, 10 missing and 7 dead are Tatars.

20 July 2016: Russian Human Rights Centre, “Memorial”, has qualified the 4 Crimean Tatars arrested and convicted on terrorist charges by Russian authorities as political prisoners:  Ruslana Zeytullayeva, Ferata Sayfullayeva, Rustem Vaitova and Prymova Nuri, known as the “Yalta Group”, were accused of being involved with Hizb ut-Tahrir, an organization officially labelled as terrorist by Russian authorities.

25 May 2016: Crimean Tatar activist Ervin Ibragimov has gone missing the night of the 25 May in Bakhchysarai. The former city council deputy and member of the executive committee of the World’s Congress of the Crimean Tatars was about to attend a court hearing against Crimean Tatars that have been detained because of their participation to an event commemorating victims of Deportation. Ibragimov has not been found since.

15 May 2016: Crimean Tatar singer Jamala won the Eurovision, beating the other finalist, Russian singer Lazarev. Her song ‘1944’ denounced Stalin’s deportation of more than 240.000 Crimean Tatars from Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula during the Second World War. Her victory stirred a lot of critics on the Russian side saying that this decision was influenced by the current political situation.

7 May 2016: Another mass detention of Crimean Tatars occurred in the coastal city of Yevpatoria in Russian annexed Crimea. According to Ukrainian Journalist Osman Pashaev, the 25 detainees were taken to the police station, where they were interrogated and fingerprinted. 

12 April 2016: Kyiv’s  Court of Appeals agreed to extend the seizure of Stanislav Krasnov, the Crimean Head of the Civil Volunteer Corps “Azov-Crimea”. Krasnov’s lawyer accused the Ukrainian authorities of acts of torture against his client. Krasnov had to be hospitalized after a brain commotion.

6 April 2016: According to Crimean lawyer Jean Zapruta, a mass arrest occurred in Simferopol’s markets with the purpose of setting up a “database”. Up to 60 people were detained by Russian forces.

4 April 2016: Masked gunmen detained 35 Crimean Tatars at a café in the village of Pionerskoe, near Simferopol. According to Emile Kurbedinov, a Crimean lawyer, the armed men released all Slavic-looking clients. The other detainees were brought to the Counter-Extremism Center of Simferopol.

April 2016:  The Russian and Crimean supreme courts have formally banned the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, considered to be an extremist organization.

22 March 2016: Minority Rights Group International delivered an advocacy statement during the 31st Session of the UNHRC, expressing its concerns on the increasing number of human rights violation committed by the Russian occupying authorities against the Crimean Tatars.

15 March 2016: Ukrainian MP Heorhiy Lohvynsky from the People’s Front Party faction has suggested giving the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people national status. The Mejlis would acquire the status of a state self-regulation authority. Minority Rights Group International (MRG) repeated its unease concerning the detention of three Crimean activists accused of organizing a pro-Ukrainian demonstration, who have been detained since February 2014.

28 February 2016: Crimean Head of Civil Volunteer Corps “Azov-Crimea” Stanislav Krasnov and activist Oksana Shelest have been detained by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU). They were accused of possessing illegal weapons.

10 February – 11 February 2016: Russian riot police conducted mass armed searches of Crimean Tatar homes, in the course whereof they arrested four human rights activists for their purported involvement in a “terrorist organisation”. The well-known activists stand on trial on charges of ‘extremism’, and their cases are but one of many examples of Russia's misuse of legislation to systematically prosecute, intimidate and harass the Crimean Tatar population.

7 February 2016: An explosive device was thrown at an office building of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatars in the city of Kherson, in southern Ukraine. Fortunately, the explosion caused only material damage and there were no casualties. Leaders of the Mejlis deem the incident a “deliberate provocation by pro-Russian forces aimed at destabilizing the situation in the south of Ukraine”.

4 February 2016: The European Parliament adopted a resolution on the human rights situation in the Crimean Peninsula which condemned in particular the targeted abuse and persecution of the Crimean Tatar population. Supported by five parliamentary groups and authored by more than a hundred MEPs, the resolution called for Russia to immediately put an end to the systematic persecution of indigenous Tatars, respect their cultural and religious rights, and release those of the community’s leaders who were illegally detained. The European Parliament also urged the Russian authorities to allow international institutions and human rights observers to enter the peninsula.

1 February 2016: After more than one year during which no delegation from international organisations or NGOs had been allowed access to the Crimean Peninsula, the Secretary-General of the Council of Europe, Thorbjorn Jagland, stated that an independent team would be sent to Crimea in order to assess the human rights situation on the illegally annexed peninsula, stressing that the investigation would be impartial and not “deal with any issue related to the territorial status of Crimea”. The mission’s findings will be presented to the Secretary General in late February or early March 2016.

28 January – 2 February 2016: According to a member of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, Eskender Barijey, there have been raids on Crimean Tatar families in the Dzhankojsky region and Leninsky District of Crimea. The mass searches, the reasons for which are unknown, targeted houses of several families, as well as the premises of an Islamic Cultural Centre in Simferopol where local law enforcers “accidentally” found banned books.

28 January 2016: Ukraine’s foreign minister, Pavlo Klimkin, announced that he would insist on the permanent monitoring of the situation in Crimea, in particular given the recent reports on Russia’s human rights violations against indigenous Tatars in Crimea. According to him, the Ukrainian government and several international organizations, including the Council of Europe, had agreed to send a preliminary mission to Russia-occupied Crimea – despite Russia’s predictable resistance against this decision.

28 January 2016: Turkey’s Foreign Minister, Mevlut Çavuşoğlu, and the Ukrainian presidential envoy for Crimean Tatars, Mustafa Dzhemilev, during a meeting in Strasbourg discussed the idea of setting up an inter­national group consisting of, among others, the signatories of the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, which is supposed to work on the de-occupation of the Crimean Peninsula. The two countries will be forging ahead with the plans for the establishment of such a group during a visit of Ukraine’s Foreign Minister to Ankara in February 2016.

25 January 2016: According to Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko, Ukraine is about to file lawsuits to “various international courts” over the illegal annexation of the Crimean Peninsula by Russia. He further stated that the international discussion of the issue – apart from a roadmap for the de-occupation of Crimea – should also focus on the release of illegally detained people and on safeguarding Crimean Tatars’ human rights.

21 January 2016: Crimean occupation “authorities” issued an arrest warrant for the National Leader of the Crimean Tatars, Mustafa Dzhemilev, and placed him on a federal wanted list for the alleged commission of “several crimes”. Like many other Tatar leaders, following an international trip, Dzhemilev was not allowed to enter the peninsula soon after its illegal annexation by Russia and sought refuge in mainland Ukraine.

15 January 2016: Renowned Crimean Tatar journalist and blogger, Zair Akadyrov, was arrested, detained and threatened by the so-called ‘Center for Countering Extremism’. Akadyrov was detained in connection to demonstrations that took place in February 2014, prior to the illegal annexation of Crimea.

15 December 2015: Senior members of Mejlis and other leaders of the Crimean Tatar people – most of which are currently in exile in mainland Ukraine – met with foreign diplomats in Kiev to discuss the persecution of Crimean Tatars in Russian-occupied Crimea. The most important items on the meeting’s agenda were the illegal annexation of the Crimean peninsula, and the dire situation of Crimean Tatars.

30 November 2015: Mustafa Dzhemilev, representative of the Crimean Tatars, outlined the conditions for ending the energy blockade imposed on the illegally annexed Crimean Peninsula. Among the Crimean Tatars’ request was the immediate release of key leaders of the Tatar community, who had been arrested earlier on accusations of organizing “mass disturbances”. After key electricity pylons supplying Crimea from Ukraine had been damaged by activists opposing the Russian annexation, only few services and government offices were operating in Crimea.

22 November 2015: Russian authorities declared a state of emergency in Crimea after the destruction of two pylons carrying electricity from Ukraine to Crimea had left close to two million people on the peninsula without power. The Crimean activists responsible for the power outage prevented repair crews from fixing the damaged pylons.

12 November 2015: The Ukrainian Parliament has voted to officially recognize the 1944 mass deportation of more than 200,000 Crimean Tatars by the Stalin regime as genocide. Tens of thousands died of exposure, disease, and starvation in the traumatic forced migration from their homeland to Central Asia. The event is commemorated annually on 18 May and an important part of the Tatars’ collective memory. In 2014, the annual commemoration had been the target of Russian repressive measures in Crimea.

9 November 2015: National Leader of the Crimean Tatars, Mustafa Dzhemilev, and Chairman of the Majlis of the Crimean Tatars, Refat Chubarov, met with the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini, in Kiev, talking primarily about Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea in March 2014. Chubarov, who is currently in exile in Ukraine’s capital, called the exchange of views between the two parties “frank and open”.

15 September 2015: In what must be regarded as a politically motivated trial, Crimean Tatar activist Rafis Kashapov was sentenced to three years in prison by Russian authorities for allegedly inciting ethnic hatred. Kashapov, chairman of the Tatar Public Centre, had been vocal online about his frustrations with Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea.

7 September 2015: Crimean Tatars leaders Refat Chubarov and Mustafa Dzhemilev announced that Crimean Tatar activists in exile in mainland Ukraine are organizing a protest to block roads and checkpoints to Crimea. Even though the initiative’s immediate goals is to prevent mass deliveries of food and other goods to the occupied territory, its overarching objective is to raise awareness of gross human rights violations against the Crimean Tatar population.

30 August 2015: The bodies of two Crimean Tatar activists, Mehmet Selimov and Osman Ibragimov, were found near Simferopol, on the illegally annexed Crimean Peninsula. The bodies of both men were found to have stab wounds. The Deputy Chairman of the Crimean Tatar People’s Assembly, Nariman Celalov, reported that authorities had established the identity of the perpetrators and were engaged in an operation to locate them. The victims had been missing since 21 August 2015.

17 August 2015: Referring to inter-ethnic relations as a ‘delicate matter’, Vladimir Putin warned the Tatar community during his three-day visit to Crimea not to seek a special status on the peninsula. Meeting with representatives of various minorities, Mr Putin said that Crimea is a "mirror of multi-ethnic Russia" and discouraged speculations on the potential recognition of special rights for a particular ethnicity in the peninsula. Moscow continued to reaffirm its accusations that foreign countries are funding human rights activists to "destabilize the situation" in Crimea. Meanwhile, the Kremlin had been supporting Crimean Tatar groups willing to cooperate with Russia.

6 August 2015: The Crimean Tatar newspaper “Yany dyunya” broke into 58 years’ worth of archives and hard drives, computers and cameras were stolen. This robbery resembled a pattern of incidents which serve to suppress opposition voices to Russia’s presence in Crimea. 

2 August 2015: Around 200 Crimean Tatar groups from several countries met in Ankara, Turkey for the Crimean Tatars World Congress. During the conference, leaders stressed that ending Russian annexation and allowing Crimean Tatars to return safely to Crimea requires “all necessary measures”.

According to the leader Mustafa Dzhemilev, approximately 10,000 members of the community had left Crimea since March 2014, when Russia illegally occupied the peninsula. Speakers also highlighted that following the restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity, the Ukrainian Constitution should grant autonomy to the Crimean Tatars. 

29 July 2015: Ahead of the August 2015 Crimean Tatar World Congress, Russian intelligence and state investigators called on the extradition of Crimean Tatar leaders, such as Mr Zair Smedlyaev and Mr Nariman Celal to Russia for questioning. Despite a UN resolution confirming Crimea as sovereign territory within Ukraine, this move from Moscow made clear that Russia does not seek to align itself with or respect internationally recognized territorial sovereignty.

22 July 2015: The Crimean Tatars held Eid celebrations marking the end of Ramadan. Many in the Muslim community partook in these festivities in fear of further persecution by the Russian authorities. 

10 July 2015: Mustafa Dzhemilev, the historic leader of the Crimean Tatars, called on Turkey to follow the example of EU countries and impose sanctions against Russia over its illegal occupation of Crimea. Mr Dzhemilev stated that the Tatars understand the sensitivities around Turkey’s relations with Russia in part due to their trade and energy cooperation, but has nonetheless urged Turkey to actively take measures to end the annexation of Crimea. 

3 July 2015: Mr Ridvan Bariiev, representative of the Crimean Tatars, presented a resolution to UNPO's XII General Assembly, stressing increased concern about the situation of Crimea’s indigenous population, further worsened under Russian occupation of the peninsula. The resolution urges the international community to take a firm stand against Moscow's illegal annexation of Crimea and to protect Crimean Tatars from ethnic persecution. UNPO adopted the resolution, thus affirming its strong commitment to the struggle for self-determination of the Crimean Tatars and to the full restoration of their rights, in accordance with universally recognized principles of international law.

16 June 2015: Despite a reluctance to implement EU and U.S. sanctions imposed on Russia for its annexation of Crimea, Turkey defended the territorial integrity of Ukraine. This was evidenced by a Turkish delegation sent to the region, whose mission culminated in an official report on human rights violations in the peninsula.  The delegation head, Professor Zafer Üskül noted only 15 schools provide education in Crimean Tatar, and concluded by mentioning that at least 200 more would be needed to meet current demand. President Erdoğan expressed concern over the report’s findings, noting that the Crimean Tatars continue to be subjected to speech, language, education, residency, and judicial restrictions.

2 June 2015: In an effort to destabilize the Platform of Crimean Tatar Organizations at the World Congress of Crimean Tatars in Turkey this summer [2015], Russian Federal Security Service submitted an appeal to Interpol calling for the extradition of Crimean Tatar Mejlis Chairman, Mr Rafat Chubarov to Russia. Under Article 280.1 of the Russian Criminal Code, Russia initiated criminal proceedings against Mr Chubarov, finding him in violation of the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation. 

21 May 2015: On the occasion of the 71st anniversary of the mass deportation of Crimean Tatars in 1944, Turkish President contacted Crimean Tatar leader Mustafa Dzhemilev, to express his solidarity with the Crimean Tatars.

8 May 2015: A high-ranking member of the Mejlis began a hunger strike while awaiting trial in a Crimean detention facility. Mr Ahtem Ciygoz was arrested in January 2015 by the Russian authorities for organizing "mass disorder". He was accused of having played a role in the clashes that took place with pro-Russian demonstrators in February 2014, a month before the illegal annexation of Crimea by Russia. His arrest took place in the context of a growing crackdown on the Crimean Tatar’s rights. 

16 April 2015: Following ATR’s forced shut down on 1 April 2015, Russia replaced the channel with its own Government-sponsored television station, continuing the country’s longstanding practice of silencing opposition views and cracking-down on freedom of expression. 

7 April 2015: Despite Vladimir Putin’s official discourse highlighting that Russians ‘have great respect for people of all the ethnic groups living in Crimea’, Crimean Tatars cultural specificities continued to be targeted because of their ethnicity by the Russian authorities’ policy.

3 April 2015: The European Union and Ukraine denounced the Russian crackdown on Crimean Tatar media, stressing that this constitutes an evident violation of the right to freedom of expression and unrestricted access to the plurality of media. Ukraine’s President, Mr Petro Poroshenko, vowed to re-establish the ATR services on mainland Ukraine. The ATR television broadcaster and several other Crimean-Tatar outlets were forced off-air after Wednesday’s [1 April 2015] deadline for renewing their operating licenses with Russia’s media regulator. Silencing this critical media voice highlighted the growing pressure exerted on the Crimean Tatar community in occupied Crimea.

2 April 2015: Russia shut down ATR, the only Crimean Tatar Channel, despite its strong relationship with Russia, Turkey’s Foreign Minister has demanded Russia to allow the broadcast of ATR Channel, and stated that after this issue is solved, an unofficial delegation will be sent to the peninsula to investigate the ongoing human rights violations that the Crimean Tatars are facing.

1 April 2015: Tatar TV and radio stations were progressively forced to close; the last TV station ATR broadcasting in the Crimean Tatar language saw its application for a new Russian license rejected by Roskomnadzor, Moscow’s media regulator.