Crimea: Crimean Tatars as “separatists” and “extremists”

On January 29, 2015, it became known about a series of criminal cases that the prosecutor’s office of the Republic of Crimea demands to initiate against activists of the Crimean Tatar movement, including for events that occurred before Crimea became part of the Russian Federation. A case of mass riots has already been opened.

On January 29, 2015, the Investigative Committee of Russia announced that as part of the investigation into the case under Chch. 1 and 2 tbsp. 212 of the Criminal Code (organization and participation in mass riots) about the events near the Crimean parliament. On February 26, 2014, one of the leaders of the public organization “Majlis of the Crimean Tatar People”, Akhtem Chiygoz, was detained.

Earlier on the same day, Crimean prosecutor Natalya Poklonskaya reported that the Investigative Committee, in addition to the case materials under Art. 212 of the Criminal Code, materials have been sent to initiate cases under Part 2 of Art. 280.1 (public calls for actions aimed at violating the territorial integrity of Russia), Part 2 of Art. 239 (creation of a non-profit organization that infringes on the personality and rights of citizens), Part 2 of Art. 282 (inciting hatred or enmity) and Art. 282.3 (financing extremist activities) of the Criminal Code.

On January 30, 2015, it became known that the Kiev District Court of Simferopol The Kiev District Court of Simferopol chose a preventive measure for Chiygoz in the form of detention until February 19, 2015.

On February 9, 2015, it became known that activist Iskender Kantemirov was arrested on the same charges for two months, and his house was searched.

Regarding the initiation of proceedings under Art. 212 of the Criminal Code, we must note that, regardless of the details of the clashes that became the reason for initiating a criminal case (regarding which we cannot say anything concrete and, moreover, we cannot say anything about the degree of guilt of certain people), these events took place before the accession Crimea to the Russian Federation, that is, they do not fall under the jurisdiction of the Russian court.

As for the demand of the Crimean prosecutor to initiate cases of “separatism” against Crimean Tatar activists, then, in our opinion, it is unacceptable to blame people who did not recognize the accession.

Details of charges under Art. Art. 239, 280.1, 282, 282.3 of the Criminal Code, unfortunately, are unknown. However, we can already notice the following.

Formally, the actions of Crimean Tatar activists fall within the definitions of the “extremist” articles put forward, but in essence, it seems to us, the accusations are unjustified.

First of all, Crimean Tatar activists refrain from calls for violence (and the riots that became the subject of the case under Article 212 occurred before Crimea joined the Russian Federation). In addition, in our opinion, the issue of the annexation of Crimea, clear from the point of view of Russian laws, is not so clear from the point of view of international law, and people who unwittingly became residents of Russia as a result of these events should have the right to have their own point of view on this dispute.

Sources

• In Crimea, one of the leaders of the public organization “Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People” was detained on suspicion of organizing and participating in mass riots // TFR. 2015. January 29.
• One of the leaders of the Crimean Tatar Mejlis was detained in Crimea on suspicion of organizing mass riots // Mediazona. 2015. January 29.
• Illegalized Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people Akhtem Chiygoz was arrested in Crimea // Free Press. 2015. January 30.
• Another Crimean Tatar activist was arrested in Crimea // Radio Liberty. 2015. February 9.