Amnesty International made report about missing WCCT member in Crimea

Ervin Ibragimov, a member of the Coordination Council of the World Congress of Crimean Tatars (WCCT), has gone missing in Bakhchysarai on Wednesday, May 25. Amnesty International movement on Thursday, May 26, made a report about this case.

“15 minut” website gives the full text of the report:

URGENT ACTION

CRIMEAN TATAR ACTIVIST FORCIBLY DISAPPEARED

Crimean Tatar activist Ervin Ibragimov went missing on 24 May near his house in

Bakhchysarai, a town in central Crimea. Footage from a CCTV camera shows a group of men forcing him into a van and driving away. Ervin Ibragimov has not been heard from since and there are serious concerns for his safety.

Activist Ervin Ibragimov (30-years-old) is an ethnic Crimean Tatar from the town of Bakhchysarai, in central Crimea. He is a former member of the local Bakhchysarai Town Council and a member of the World Congress of Crimean Tatars, an international organisation aimed at promoting the rights of Crimean Tatars and their cultural heritage which was set up after the peninsula’s annexation by Russia in 2014. Ervin Ibragimov told his friends that on 17 May he noticed a car waiting outside his house, which later followed him during the day. He did not report further incidents. On 25 May, he was due to travel to the town of Sudak to attend a court hearing on the case of a group of Crimean Tatars arrested by the de facto Crimean authorities for holding an “unauthorized” gathering on 18 May to mark the Crimean Tatar Deportation Remembrance Day.

Ervin Ibragimov last spoke to his father on the phone at around 11 pm on 24 May. His father later found his car abandoned outside their home, with the doors open and the key left in the ignition. CCTV footage from a camera at a nearby shop shows a group of men stopping Ervin Ibragimov’s car. He is seen briefly speaking to the men before trying to escape. The men are seen apprehending and forcing him into their van and immediately driving away.

On 25 May, Ervin Ibragimov’s father went to the offices of the Russian Federal Security Services (FSB) in the Crimean city of Simferopol to file a complaint and provide the CCTV footage. FSB officers refused to file the complaint and told him to send it by post. Police in Bakhchysarai opened an investigation into the incident and inspected the car.

There have been several enforced disappearances of ethnic Crimean Tatars since the peninsula’s occupation and annexation by Russia in 2014, none of which has been effectively investigated.

Please write immediately in Ukrainian, Russian or your own language:

Urging the de facto authorities to immediately establish and reveal Ervin Ibragimov's whereabouts and inform his family accordingly;

 Call for his immediate release, unless he is charged with a recognisable offence, in which case he should have an immediate access to a lawyer.

PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 7 JULY 2016 TO:

Prosecutor of Crimea

Nataliya Poklonskaya

Simferopol

Crimea

Fax: +7 3652 550 310

Salutation: Dear Prosecutor

 

And copies to:

Head of Crimea

Sergey Aksyonov

Simferopol

Crimea

Email: [email protected]

Fax: + 7 3652 248 020

 

And copies to:

Human Rights Commissioner in Crimea

Lyudmila Lyubina

Simferopol

Crimea

Email: [email protected]

Also send copies to diplomatic representatives accredited to your country. Please insert local diplomatic addresses below:

Name Address 1 Address 2 Address 3 Fax Fax number Email Email address Salutation Salutation

Please check with your section office if sending appeals after the above date.

URGENT ACTION

CRIMEAN TATAR ACTIVIST FORCIBLY DISAPPEARED

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

There have been at least six confirmed and suspected enforced disappearances of ethnic Crimean Tatars in Crimea since its occupation and annexation by Russia in 2014, none of which has been effectively investigated.

While families of the missing have received assurances from the de facto authorities that the disappearances would be effectively investigated, there have been no signs of any genuine inquiries. This was despite a plethora of evidence, including video footage, strongly suggesting that pro-Russian paramilitaries from the so-called Crimean self-defense force had been behind at least some of these cases.