A trial is about to open in Russian-annexed Crimea in which Akhtem Chiygoz, deputy head of the Crimean Tatar Majlis, and two other Tatar leaders stand accused of organizing mass disturbances in February 2014, in the prelude to the regional referendum that approved union with Russia. The Ukraine-based Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group assails the trial as "lawless" and says it "flies in the face of all principles of law." The Crimean court on Nov 25 imposed a Dec. 4 deadline for the defense to review a huge file assembled by prosecutors, consisting of 26 volumes and 47 gigabits of video footage, each some four hours long. An appeal against this ruling was rejected on Dec. 24, although the defense argued that they had only had time to read 10 of the 26 volumes, and had actually been denied access to the material for much of the peroid. Chiygoz has been detained since January, and his freedom was a demand of recent protest blockades of Crimea's border with Ukraine, which stopped delivery of goods into the peninsula. Since the former Majlis head Mustafa Dzhemiliev and his successor Refat Chubarov have both been exiled by the new Russian athorities, Chiygoz is the highest-ranking Tatar leader remaining in Crimea.
The overwhelming majority of Tatars opposed the annexation of Crimea. Along with other opponents of Moscow's rule, they have faced harassment, arbitrary arrests, disappearance and murder. The only Crimean Tatar television station, ATR, was forced off the air in April when authorities refused to renew its license. The Crimean Tatar Mejlis has remained implacably opposed to Russia's annexation of Crimea. (Human Rights in Ukraine, Dec. 28; The Militant, Dec. 21; UNPO, Nov. 30)
