"Memorial" recognized Chiygoz as a political prisoner

The Memorial's human rights center recognized the deputy chairman of the Medzhlis of the Crimean Tatar people Akhtem Chiygoz, sentenced to eight years in prison in the “February 26” Medzhlis. This is stated in a statement by the organization received by the editorial office of the "faces".

"We are outraged by the cynical cruelty of the Russian court, which had passed such a severe sentence - eight years of a general regime colony - in the case, the essence and details of which indicate a large -scale falsification of evidence during the investigation and intentional non -qualification of the corpus delicti," the memorial notes.

As emphasized in the statement, the investigation in the “case of February 26” was carried out with gross violations of international and Russian law. The Ukrainian sovereignty over the Crimea was ignored not only after the annexation of the peninsula, but also before it. . “Given the fact that the circumstances of the Crimea’s transition to Russia in 2014 met the signs of occupation, Russia, having launched the criminal prosecution of Akhtem Chiygoz, violates its obligations as the occupying power, enshrined in the Geneva Convention on the protection of the civilian population during the war,” the memorial says.

In addition, the selectivity of criminal prosecution is emphasized. Despite the fact that violence was used by both warring parties, only representatives of the Majlis of the Crimean Tatar people were held liable.

The Memorial's Human Rights Center considers Akhtem Chiygoz political prisoners and requires his immediate and unconditional release and termination of criminal prosecution, ”the statement said.

On September 11, the collegium of the Supreme Court of the annexed Crimea as part of Viktor Zinkov, Alexei Kozyrev and Igor Kryuchkova found Chiygoz to be guilty under part 1 of Article 212 of the Criminal Code (organization of riots) and sentenced him to eight years of general regime . It was such a term by Politzeku who asked the prosecutor Anastasia Supryag to appoint a minimum term for this article in the court debate.

After the annexation of Crimea, Chiygoz refused to receive a Russian passport and remains a citizen of Ukraine, so he will serve his sentence as a foreigner.

On August 9, Chiygoz performed with the last word . “I am destined to accept this sentence as a sentence for the entire Crimean Tatar people - on behalf of the Russian Federation, who occupied my homeland,” said Politzek.

On February 26, 2014, the protests of the Maidanovites, mainly of the Crimean Tatars, disrupted the vote planned in the Verkhovna Rada of Crimea on the appointment of an illegal separatist referendum. A year later, the occupation authorities began to factory the case of "riots." The occasion was the clashes between the supporters of the Euromaidan and the participants in the rally of pro -Russian forces, at the same time passed by the parliament. According to the Russian prosecutor's office of the peninsula, during these clashes, "two people died, 79 bodily harm of varying severity were caused."

Chiygoz became the first arrested in the case. He was detained on January 29, 2015 and sent to the pre -trial detention center on the same day. In addition to the deputy chairman of the Mejlis, there were seven more defendants in the case: Eskender Kantemirov, Eskender Emirviliev, Yunusov, Ali Asanov, Eskender Nebiev, Mustafa Degermmenji and Arsen Yunusov. Unlike the main accused, they were charged with part 2 of Article 212 of the Code (participation in the riots), which provides for a period of 3 to 8 years.

Nebiev and Yunusov melt the deal with the prosecutor’s office, and their materials were allocated in separate production. At different times at the end of 2015, both received conditional terms. The trial of the rest of the defendants continues in the Central District Court of Simferopol.