EP to hold hearings on violation of human rights in Crimea

The European Parliament will discuss possible assistance of the EU's legislative body in protecting human rights in Russian-occupied Crimea.

The respective hearings will be held at the European Parliament's Subcommittee on Human Rights on Wednesday, January 24, an Ukrinform correspondent in Brussels reports.

The hearings will be attended by activists of the Crimean Tatar people Akhtem Chiygoz and Ilmi Umerov.

As reported, on October 25, 2017, Russia unexpectedly released deputy heads of the Mejlis, Ilmi Umerov and Akhtem Chygoz, by transferring them to Turkey, and after that they arrived in Kyiv.

Chiygoz was detained in January 2015 for participating in a rally in support of the territorial integrity of Ukraine in front of the building of the Crimean parliament on February 26, 2014. He was accused of organizing mass disorder and sentenced to eight years in prison. 

Umerov was sentenced to two years in a settlement colony on charges of "calling for violation of the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation" for his statement on the ATR television channel that "Crimea is Ukraine."

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