The 11-hour search of the Crimean Tatar Mejlis ended with the FSB removing the minutes from several meetings of the Mejlis; religious books and personal items, belonging to Mustafa Dzhemiliev. It appears that Russia and its occupation regime, having failed to ‘tame’ or at least silence the Mejlis, are now resorting to open repression

During the night after ‘elections’ organized by the occupation regime in the Crimea and boycotted by most Crimean Tatars, three men carried out a highly specific attack on the Mejlis building in Simferopol.

A Mejlis spokesperson believes the vandalism to be the latest in a series of provocations and linked with the coming elections which the Mejlis has called on all Crimeans concerned about the violation of Crimean Tatar rights to boycott

The Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People has issued a statement in which it points to the widespread rights violations seen in recent months in the Crimea, including violations of the rights of the Crimean Tatars and calls on all Crimeans to boycott the elections

Said Ismagilov called the President’s appointment a good move and spoke of Russia’s folly in “banishing a person who has devoted his whole life to regaining his homeland”

The Simferopol authorities have refused to allow Crimean Tatars to hold their traditional remembrance gathering to mark European Day of Remembrance for Victims of Stalinism and Nazism on Aug 23. They claim that this is because of the hot weather.

Veteran Crimean Tatar leader Mustafa Dzhemiliev is adamant that acceptance of Russia’s annexation of Crimea must not become part of any agreement to stop Russian aggression in eastern Ukraine. He is equally blunt about attempts to make his son’s ongoing detention in Simferopol dependent on Dzhemiliev’s malleability.

Defence of the Crimean Tatar people and their recognition as indigenous people of Ukraine are long overdue, but also seen by analysts as having an important role to play in the legal fight against Russia’s annexation of the Crimea

A week after the chief editor of the Mejlis’s newspaper Avdet received a summons over supposed complaints of ‘extremism’, the Crimea Foundation, the charitable arm of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People has also been summoned to account for its activities

In yet another unpleasant echo of Soviet times, two Crimean Tatar newspapers – ‘Avdet’ and ‘Kyyrym’ - have been ‘denounced’ for allegedly ‘circulating extremist material’

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has pointed to ongoing concerns, the imprisonment of Oleg Sentsov and three other activists; the banning of Refat Chubarov and Mustafa Dzhemiliev from their homeland; religious harassment; and much more, with none of its previous recommendations implemented

The Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People are recalling their representatives from the government installed after Russia annexed the Crimea. It is advising Crimean Tatars to boycott the Crimean parliamentary and local elections scheduled for September 14.

For the second time since Russia annexed the Crimea in March 2014, the authorities have banned entry to a prominent Crimean Tatar leader over alleged ‘extremism’. Despite the absurdity of the charges and impossibility of lodging appeals against them, there has been no reaction from the EU or USA, nor from international human rights organizations.

Enforced exile is always a personal tragedy. In this case, however, a ban has been imposed on Refat Chubarov, head of the Crimean Tatars’ representative body and this is an affront to all Crimean Tatars. It is also a test and challenge to western countries who claim commitment to rule of law and human rights while wanting business as usual with Russia

In the latest of a number of outrages by the regime in the Crimea under Russian occupation, the head of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People, Refat Chubarov thas been prevented from returning to the Crimea following the meeting of the Mejlis in Henychesk, Kherson oblast

Seyitislyam Kyshveyev, director of the Crimean Tatar programmes on the State-owned Krym TV and radio channels has been dismissed just days after a similar attempt on the safe fabricated charges was made about the chief editor of the programmes

Crimean Tatar Flag Day was not the first time under Russian occupation that Crimean Tatars have been prevented from holding events in the centre of Simferopol. In May the occupation regime banned the traditional remembrance gatherings marking the seventieth anniversary of the Deportation.

Just over a month after the occupation regime went all out to prevent the remembrance events marking the seventieth anniversary of the Deportation, the Simferopol City Council has refused to allow events to mark Crimean Tatar Flag Day from being held in the centre of the city

Mustafa Dzhemilev about why what Russia has done in annexing his homeland cannot be allowed to succeed. Even the instinct for self-preservation must prevent the west from accepting such a challenge to world order

The Chief Editor of Avdet, the newspaper of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People has received a formal warning over something that the occupation regime’s prosecutor calls ‘propaganda of extremism’ but that appears to involve correctly using terms like annexation for Russia’s occupation of the Crimea