A ‘court’ in Russian-occupied Crimea has sentenced 71-year-old Ilver Ametov, Head of the Sudak Regional Mejlis (Crimean Tatar self-governing body), to eight months restriction of liberty following an absurd ‘trial’ evidently staged because of Ametov’s role in the Mejlis. For well over four years, Russia has flouted an order from the U.N.’s International Court of Justice to withdraw its extraordinary ban against the Crimean Tatar Mejlis, which is the legitimate representative assembly of the main indigenous people of Crimea. It has instead concocted several ‘criminal proceedings’ against elected representatives of the Mejlis or its regional bodies, or against respected members of the Crimean Tatar community who are claimed to be linked with the Mejlis.
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Halya Coynash: Russia sentences Crimean Tatar regional Mejlis head
Armed men stand guard in front of the entrance of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people (the single highest executive-representative body of the Crimean Tatars) in Simferopol on Sept. 16, 2014.
