KIEV — Ukraine on Monday accused Russia of fabricating charges against
Crimean Tatars arrested on the Russian-annexed peninsula and mistreating them
in jail.
اضافة اعلان
On the weekend, Russian authorities detained five men including Nariman
Dzhelial, deputy head of the Mejlis traditional assembly which is designated a
"terrorist organization" in Russia.
Three of them — Dzhelial, Aziz Akhtemov and Asan Akhtemov — are suspected by
Russian investigators of damaging a gas pipeline supplying a Russian military
base.
"The sabotage affair is fabricated and they (investigators) are trying
to force a confession from the Akhtemovs to implicate Nariman Dzhelial,"
Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Emine Dzheppar told AFP.
"There is reliable information that they are being tortured," she
said without providing any details.
The Crimean Tatars, a predominantly Muslim ethnic minority, mostly opposed
Russia's annexation of Crimea from
Ukraine in 2014 and came under strong
pressure from the Russian authorities afterwards.
After banning Mejlis, Russia closed the local Tatar television channel,
forced their leader, Mustafa Dzhemilev, into exile and made numerous
arrests.
Russia denies any political repression in Crimea but has arrested a number
of Islamist or pro-Ukrainian "terrorists" on the peninsula.
Dzheppar suggested on Monday that the detention of the five men was Moscow's
"revenge" for a Kiev conference which Dzhelial had taken part in in
August.
Moscow has decried the high-profile event, which was dedicated to the
"de-occupation" of Crimea, as "anti-Russian."
In a statement on Sunday, the US State Department called on "the
Russian occupation authorities" to immediately release Dzhelial and
"at least 45 other Crimean Tatars."
"This is the latest in a long line of politically-motivated raids,
detentions, and punitive measures against the Mejlis and its leadership,
which has been targeted for repression for its opposition to Russia's attempted
annexation of Crimea," the statement said.
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