Chubarov calls new arrests in occupied Crimea 'large-scale provocations'

"The press service of the 'Crimean office of the Federal Security Service' spread information that allegedly 'officers of the FSB office for the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol'... detained two residents of the Bakhchisaray district on suspicion of participating in an organization banned in the Russian Federation, Hizb ut-Tahrir, who are 'charged with committing a crime' envisaged by Part 2, Article 205.5 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (participation in the activities of a terrorist organization)," Chubarov wrote on his Facebook page. 

According to him, a little later, it got even "hotter," as the press service of the "Crimean office of the FSB of the Russian Federation" issued a high-profile report that "the activity of the extremist group created by an assistant to Verkhovna Rada deputy Mustafa Dzhemilev, Erol Veliyev, has been exposed. The group was organized on the instruction of Refat Chubarov, the wanted leader of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, which is banned in Russia, with the support of the SBU." 

According to him, all these statements testify that "we are witnesses, and many are direct victims of new repression."

"Obviously, we are witnesses, and many are direct victims of new repression and large-scale provocations that are unfolding in Russia-occupied Russia. Role playing: while Putin courts Merkel and prepares for a meeting with Macron, Russia's FSB in the occupied Crimea opens new cases against Crimean Tatar and Ukrainian activists," the Mejlis head said.

According to Chubarov, one of the goals of the new round of repressions in Crimea is an attempt to discredit the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people before the international community.

According to him, Crimean Tatar activists Server Mustafayev and Edem Smailov, whose houses were raided early on May 21, were arrested by FSB officers.

op