Governmental bodies an explanation of the actions undertaken by officials towards Mustafa
Dzhemilev, particularly regarding his ban on entering Crimea.
290. The Head of the Kurultai (Congress) of the Crimean Tatars, Zayr Smedlyaev, informed
HRMMU that he had received a written “warning” from the Crimean police about the
"inadmissibility of extremist activities and unlawful assemblies", in line with Russian
legislation. The notice says that on 3 May, the leaders of the Mejlis publicly spoke in
support of ‘extremist statements’ by Mustafa Dzhemilev and provoked extremist
manifestations from people.
291. On 15 May, three houses of Crimean Tatars in Simferopol were searched by FSB officials.
Two houses belong to the head of the External Relations Department of the Mejlis, Ali
Khamzin. The searches were performed at his actual place of residence (Bakhchysarai) and
his place of registration (Strogonovka village, Simferopol region). FSB officials explained
that these persons were suspected of preparing terrorist attacks.
292. On 15 May, the “Chairman” of the Council of Ministers of Crimea, Sergey Aksyonov,
announced that the so-called “Crimean self-defence” would become regular and receive
budgetary support to ensure public security. The HRMMU underlines that such an intention
raises concern as the “Crimean self-defence” has reportedly been involved in numerous
human rights violations.
Accountability
293. The HRMMU is concerned that after more than two months of investigation of the murder
of 39year-old Reshat Ametov, the Crimean law-enforcement authorities have not yet
established the identities of perpetrators, although a video of the attackers is available that
would allow their identification. Crimean Tatar Reshat Ametov was abducted by
unidentified persons wearing military uniform in the centre of Simferopol in early March
during a picket near the Council of Ministers of Crimea. On 17 March, his corpse was
found with traces of torture in the Zemlyanichnoye village of the Belogorsk district.
294. The acting Prosecutor General of Ukraine reported on 27 May that an interagency ‘working
group for legal issues relating to the temporarily occupied territory of Crimea’ had been
established. The working group will coordinate the activities of the Ukrainian authorities on
a wide range of legal issues connected with the violations that took place after the March
“referendum”.
Citizenship
295. The HRMMU received worrisome information that, in some cases, Crimean residents were
forced to give up their Ukrainian citizenship, which may amount to arbitrary deprivation of
nationality. Judges of the Crimean Commercial Court in Simferopol and the administrative
staff, who were granted Russian citizenship on a priority basis, were reportedly compelled
to complete application forms renouncing Ukrainian citizenship. In general, the procedure
of issuing Russian passports is slow. According to different calculations, providing
passports to the whole population of Crimea will take up to 15 months while Russian laws
allocated only three months for this procedure. Besides, it is unclear how citizenship issues,
applications for social benefits and payments and other rights and entitlements are
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