Mejlis member: Most illegally detained persons on occupied peninsula are Crimean Tatars

"During the reporting period, Russian security forces conducted 15 searches, 25 arrests, and 28 interrogations, questionings and so-called ‘conversations.’ The total number of arrests in the first three months of this year is 97, including 13 new arrests and 84 extended arrests," member of the Mejlis of Crimean Tatar People, chairman of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center Eskender Bariyev said at an online briefing.

According to him, during the reporting period, as well as for three months last year, most of the searches, detentions, and arrests concerned Crimean Tatars.

Thus, there were 24 representatives of the indigenous people of Crimea out of 25 persons detained, 18 out of 28 interrogated. In addition, 12 out of 15 searches were conducted in the homes of Crimean Tatars.

According to the Crimean Tatar Resource Center, the number of arrests for three months of this year in the occupied Crimea (97) corresponds to the figure for the same period in 2019. At the same time, the number of arrested Crimean Tatars in the first quarter of 2020 increased from 67 to 83 people.

According to the Crimean Tatar Resource Center experts, this fact testifies to the systematic suppression of pro-Ukrainian sentiment in Crimea, as well as to the escalation of repression against the Crimean Tatar people who wage a nonviolent struggle against the Russian occupation of Crimea.

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