More than 100 Crimean Tatars Illegally Detained by Russian Security Forces Since 2014

On the Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Deportation of Crimean Tatars and on the Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Genocide of Crimean Tatar People, the Ukrainian authorities have stated that the Kremlin now prosecutes 93 Crimean Tatars on politically motivated charges. Seventy-eight of them are serving illegal sentences in the territory of Russia, another 15 have been deprived of the right to freedom of movement in the occupied Crimea.

“For the eighth year in a row, the Crimean Tatar people have been forced to fight for truth and justice, for the right to live in their native land, to speak their language, to preserve traditions and culture,” Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights Liudmyla Denisova posted on her Facebook page.

According to the Ministry of Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine, more than 100 Crimean Tatars have been illegally detained by the Russian occupiers and are still behind bars, and more than 25,000 representatives of the indigenous people have been forced to flee their homes in Crimea since 2014.

“But the day will come when we will return the Ukrainian peninsula from Russian yoke. Then, the Crimean people will breathe life into it again – a life where there is no place for repression and arbitrariness,” the Ministry stressed.

Background

The deportation of Crimean Tatars began in Crimea on 18 May 1944. Within three days, the Soviet authorities deported almost 200,000 indigenous inhabitants from the peninsula. A total of 32,000 NKVD officers were involved in the forced eviction of Crimean Tatars.