Participants of the Second Free Russia Forum criticize the annexation of the Crimea by Russia, which has been accompanied by massive violations of the rights of the native population of the Crimea - the Crimean Tatars - and other citizens of Ukraine.
Participants of the Second Free Russia Forum criticize the annexation of the Crimea by Russia, which has been accompanied by massive violations of the rights of the native population of the Crimea – the Crimean Tatars – and other citizens of Ukraine.
Over the course of the Russian annexation, dozens of Crimean Tatars have been killed, kidnapped, or imprisoned; thousands have been forced to leave their motherland; and all have become potential objects of prosecution solely on the basis of their nationality. The representative body of the Crimean Tatar people, the Majlis, has been deemed an “extremist organization” by the Russian govenrment and thereby outlawed. On October 14, the world moved to support citizens of Ukraine illegally captured by the Russian authorities, including Oleg Sentsov, Aleksandr Kolchenko, Akhtem Chiygoz, Mustafa Degermenji, Ali Asanov, Stanislav Klykh, Nikolay Karpyuk, and tens of others. They were falsely accused of “violation of foreign territorial supremacy of Russia”, “diversion” and “belonging to extremist and terrorist organizations”.
Thus, the Soviet traditions of lies and repression continues. These acts of Putin’sregime are criminal, and, in the long term, they damage not only the Crimean Tatar and Ukrainian people, but also the citizens of Russia, who are turned into co-conspirators in Putin’s crimes. The tragic situation of the Crimean Tatar people is suppressed in both Russian and international mass media.
The Free Russia Forum’s participants express strong protest against the prosecution of the Crimean Tatars along ethnic lines and believe that it is necessary to attract the attention of the Russian and world communities to their plight. The Forum’s participants also advocate for immediate release of the Ukrainian prisoners taken hostage by Russia.
Approved on October 15, 2016
