Action in support of Crimean political prisoners was held in Verkhovna Rada (photo)

The head of Mejlis of the Crimean Tatars Refat Chubarov from the Verkhovna Rada’s tribune urged people's deputies to support the Crimean Tatar and Ukrainian political prisoners in the occupied Crimea and Russia on Tuesday, October 3, 2017.

Chubarov told about the latest arrests and sentences in Crimea:

«The last months were marked by a sharp deterioration in a situation with human rights on a peninsula: on July 27, 2017, Crimean Tatar activist Ruslan Zeytullayev was imprisoned for 15 years; on August 4, 2017, Ukrainian activist Vladimir Balukh was convicted for 3 years and 7 months of the colony; on September 11, 2017, the deputy head of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people Akhtem Chyigoz was sentenced to 8 years in prison; on September 22, 2017, the famous Ukrainian journalist Nikolay Semena was imprisoned for two and half years of suspended sentence and prohibited from engaging in any public activity; on September 27, 2017, the deputy head of the Mejlis Ilmi Umerov suffered from Parkinson's disease was sentenced to 2 years in a colony-settlement and banned from engaging in public activities. Between these verdicts there was a 10-days arrest of 76-year-old Server Karametov; there was a brutal kidnapping in face of a family  of Renat Paralamov, father of four young children, who was tortured applying an electric current a whole day in the FSS office in Simferopol; there were detained  four Crimean Tatars – Renat Suleymanov, Arsen Kubedinov, Seyran Mustafayev and Talyat Abdurakhmanov who were accused of allegedly belonging to an extremist movement», he said.

Chubarov said that the Crimean Tatars and Ukrainians in Crimea needed the Ukrainian state’s and international community’s support, and called on the people's deputies to show respect to political prisoners in Crimea and Russia.

«Dear colleagues, as to the Russian invaders, all those Ukrainian citizens’ real fault, whose names are written in your workplaces, is that they remain faithful to Ukraine, love Crimea and do not accept occupiers. The overwhelming majority of the Crimean population expects the decisive actions from the Ukrainian state, from the international community aimed at fast deoccupation of Crimea. We, the Ukrainian parliamentarians, the Ukrainian state and the Ukrainian people, should do their best to bring Crimea back as soon as possible», the Mejlis head said.

During Chubarov’s speech in the Verkhovna Rada there was Ilmi Umerov’s daughter Ayshe Umerova. People's deputies in a sign of solidarity with Crimean Tatar and Ukrainian political prisoners in Crimea and Russia took part in action holding in their hands the leaflets with the persecuted activists’ names.

«Half of the political prisoners are Crimean Tatars. There are also Ukrainians, Russians, and other nationalities. It is our respect to their courage, their faith to Ukraine. I want as soon as possible the government, the President, and we all did our best to reunite with these courageous people. I also welcome Ilmi Umerov’s daughter Ayshe, who is now here in a hall», Chubarov said.