Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Tatar Legislature Is Banned in Crimea

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MOSCOW — The Supreme Court in Crimea on Tuesday banned the legislature of the Crimean Tatar minority, a body that the local authorities have harassed repeatedly for opposing the 2014 Russian annexation of the peninsula.

Following a similar action by the Russian Justice Ministry last week, the presiding judge declared the legislature, known as the Mejlis, an “extremist” organization and outlawed its activities on Russian territory.

Natalya V. Poklonskaya, the Crimean prosecutor appointed by Russia, argued before the court that the Mejlis is supported by international terrorist organizations and aims to destroy Russia’s territorial integrity.

“Today, the honorable court, we build a world in which every Crimean will be safe and joyful, where roses will blossom and grapes will grow,” Ms. Poklonskaya was quoted as saying by Novaya Gazeta, a Russian newspaper. “The Mejlis opposes this as much as it can, so why do we need it?”

Nariman Dzhelalov, the deputy head of the Mejlis, said the formal ban would not change much, as the Russian government has already done everything to obstruct the operations of the body.

“We will continue our work beyond the Russian borders,” Mr. Dzhelalov said. “We will appeal this decision with the European Court of Human Rights and I will stay in Crimea to work here as a civic activist.”

The Mejlis was founded in 1991 to represent a Turkic Muslim minority with deep roots in Crimea, whose members began to return to their homeland after a brutal deportation in 1944. Tens of thousands are believed to have died in Siberian prisons and Central Asia, making the survivors deeply distrustful of Moscow. About 10 percent of the peninsula’s 2.3 million people are Crimean Tatar, according to the most recent census.

When Russia was moving toward  annexing the peninsula, Tatar activists provided the only opposition. After annexation, Crimean Tatars were systematically harassed, and many activists were arrested or disappeared, Mr. Dzhelalov said.

On Friday, the United States State Department called on Russia to reverse the decision to suspend the Mejlis.



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