On April 22, Crimean Tatar leader Mustafa Dzhemilev was stopped while crossing the Crimean border into mainland Ukraine and told that he would be banned from returning to the peninsula for five years.
Dzhemilev was traveling to Kyiv with Aslan Omer Kyrymly, the deputy Chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean People, the representative body of the Tatar people, when border guards handed handed him a statement notifying him of his “unauthorized entry into the Russian Federation.”
The Mejlis of the Crimean People first reported Dzhemilev’s detainment on their website. The press service of the Mejlis was not available for comment when the Kyiv Post contacted them.
Border guards told Dzhemilev that he had violated paragraph 1, article 27 of the federal law on “the regime of entry to the Russian Federation and exit from the Russian Federation,” and would be banned from re-entering any part of the Russian Federation until April 19, 2019.
Dzhemilov joked that the decision is “an indication of the kind of ‘civilized’ government we’re dealing with,” according to Interfax Ukraine.
On April 19, Dzhemilev was also detained at the Crimean border while traveling from continental Ukraine. Some 50 supporters, flying Ukrainian and Tatar flags, traveled by car to the border to ensure his release.
Meanwhile, Ukrainska Pravda reported on April 21 that the management of the Crimean Tatar broadcasting company Krym have been told not to air interviews with Dzhemilev and other members of the Mejlis.
Dzhemilev served as the Chariman of the Mejlis of the Crimean People from 1992 to 2013 and has been a member of the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada since 2008.
Dzhemilev has decried the Russian occupation and subsequent annexation of Crimea in February-March, saying that Crimea should remain a part of continental Ukraine. He has argued that Ukraine should rebuild its nuclear arsenal to protect itself from future Russian aggression.
Dzhemilev was deported with other Crimean Tatars to Uzbekistan as a child on Joseph Stalin’s orders in May of 1944 on accusations that they had collaborated with Nazi troops between 1942 and 1943.
During the Soviet Union, Dzhemilev was an outspoken advocate of the rights of Crimean Tatars, and celebrated dissident. He was imprisoned numerous times for anti-Soviet political activity, and famously staged a hunger strike lasting more than 300 days, the longest ever by a human rights advocate.
Dzhemilev played an important role in ensuring that the Tatar people could return to Crimea in the 1980s during former Soviet Secretary General Mikhail Gorbachev’s policy of perestroika.
In keeping with his dissident history, Dzhemilev said that the ban would not prevent him from trying to re-enter Crimea.
Until he attempts to return to Crimea, Dzhemilov will meet with U.S. vice President Joe Biden and the head of Bank of America in Kyiv before traveling to Almaty to participate in the Eurasian Forum, which will focus on Ukraine.
Kyiv Post Staff Writer Isaac Webb can be reached on Twitter @isaacdwebb or at [email protected]
