Mustafa Cemiliev, MP and former head of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People has spoken of repressive measures against the Crimean Tatars since Russia’s invasion of his homeland.
“Russian FSB [Federal Security Service] officers are present almost officially and openly in the Crimea’s mosques, taking note of whose beard is longer, how religious people are, so that [those more religious] automatically are accordingly categorized as Islamic radicals”, Cemiliev explained.
He described as repression the primitive behaviour of the so-called “self-defence of Crimea” thugs. The latter, as reported, used violence against a young man and three women in the Mejlis building on Monday who tried to stop them from bursting in and pulling down the Ukrainian flag hoisted over the building.
Cemiliev has also reported that Crimean Tatars who refuse to take Russian citizenship have lost their jobs as a consequence.
Mustafa Cemiliev has every cause to speak of the repressive measures adopted by Russia directly and the puppet administration it has installed in the Crimea. On Tuesday morning he was handed a document informing him that he has been banned entry to the Russian Federation until 2019. Since the Crimea is now under Russian occupation and Moscow claims it to be Russian territory, the ban extends to Mustafa Cemiliev’s Crimean homeland.