Server Mustafayev, renowned Crimean Tatar political prisoner, receives Freedom House award for exemplary courage

Exactly seven years after he was arrested in Russia’s first mass attack on Crimean Solidarity journalists and activists, Server Mustafayev has been honoured for his courage with the Alfred Moses Liberty Award, one of Freedom House’s annual awards to advocates for democracy and freedom. Referring to Server as an “unjustly imprisoned Crimean Tatar human rights defender”, Freedom House explained that his award had been accepted on his behalf by Ukraine’s US Ambassador.   Server Mustafayev is an internationally recognized political prisoner and Amnesty International prisoner of conscience, sentenced to 14 years in Russia’s revenge for his refusal to remain silence about its repression in occupied Crimea.  He is one of an ever mounting number of political prisoners imprisoned in Russia’s attempt to crush the vital Crimean Solidarity human rights movement, of which Server was one of the co-founders and coordinators.

This latest award further corroborates the courageous message in Server’s final address to the first Russian court on the eve of the sentences against him and seven other Crimean Tatar civic journalists and activists.  Back on 10 September 2020, he explained that he was a Ukrainian citizen, a political prisoner and prisoner of conscience.  This was the way the world sees him and the other men, and the court would not change that by refusing to include resolutions from international bodies and other documents in the case material.  He addressed those who comfort themselves with the belief that they can change nothing, that the system will simply crush them.  “We do make our choice in this world,” he said. “I and the Kremlin’s other political prisoners chose not to be silent about what was happening, not to wait for others somewhere to struggle for a better life, for their rights. <>  It is impossible to live simply and silently, as though nothing has happened. Impossible to steer clear of politics, to remain deaf and blind in the face of evident injustice, formally coated by law, which is lawlessness. <> It is stupid to think and hope for a glorious future after the lawlessness from Russia in 2014. Find strength within yourselves to look truth in the eye, nobody will do that for you.  <>  We are all somebody’s children, we also have our own children, grandchildren. I am the father of four children. I don’t want my children, my people to live in a country of threats and intimidation; of humiliation and torture; of abductions and illegal arrests; of aggression and repression.  <> However much Russia may hate our determination to defend ourselves, to not be silent in the face of injustice, however much it may dislike our lack of loyalty to the Russian aggressor – we were never slaves in the past, and today we will not be subjugated and will not become your slaves.”

Server Mustafayev was born in exile in Uzbekistan on 5 May 1986, but returned with his family to Crimea when he was still very small. He has a higher education in construction and architecture, however has mainly worked in business and retail.  He married in 2009, and the couple have two sons Yunus and Yusuf and two daughters – Dzhemilye, who is the eldest and little Nadzhiye.

From 2014, Server was forced to spend a lot of time helping the families of political prisoners.  After a wave of new arrests in 2016, he became one of the coordinators of Crimean Solidarity, which not only helped political prisoners and their families, but also sought to ensure that information reached the world about the mounting repression under Russian occupation.

Open attack on Crimean Solidarity

On 11 October 2017, four Crimean Tatar civic journalists were arrested: Seiran Saliyev (b. 1985) Ernes Ametov (b. 1985); Marlen (Suleiman) Asanov (b. 1977); and Timur Ibragimov (b. 1985); as well as two civic activists Memet Belyalov (b. 1989) and Server Zekiryaev (b. 1973).  Although it was clear then that Russia was seeking to silence the human rights movement in occupied Crimea, it was the arrest on 21 May 2018 of Crimean Solidarity coordinator and civic journalist Server Mustafayev (b. 1986) and Edem Smailov (b. 1968) that provoked the most international condemnation. 

The men were not accused of any recognizable crime, merely of totally unproven ‘involvement’ in Hizb ut-Tahrir, a peaceful, if controversial, transnational Muslim organization which is legal in Ukraine, and which is not known to have committed any acts of terror anywhere in the world.  On the basis of a flawed and suspiciously secretive Supreme Court ruling from February 2003 which declared Hizb ut-Tahrir to be ‘terrorist’, Russian courts pass sentences of up to 24 years against totally law-abiding men.

Initially, only Marlen Asanov was charged with the more serious ‘organizer’ role under Article 205.5 § 1 of Russia’s criminal code, however in February 2019, the same charge was also brought against Memet Belyalov and Timur Ibragimov.  Server Mustafayev; Ernes Ametov; Seiran Saliyev; Edem Smailov and Server Zekiryaev were charged with ‘involvement in such an alleged ‘group’ (Article 205.5 § 2).  All eight men were also charged (under Article 278) with the truly surreal ‘planning to violently seize power’. 

There was no actual evidence of involvement in Hizb ut-Tahrir, let alone of ‘organizing a group’.  The charges were based on illicitly taped conversations in a mosque, during which there was not one mention of Hizb ut-Tahrir.  As always, the FSB sent a transcript of these tapes to loyal ‘experts’ whom it can rely on to provide the claims of ‘proof’ required.  None of the three ‘experts’ Yulia Fomina; Yelena Khazimulina and Timur Zakhirovich Urazumetov possessed the professional competence to provide such assessments.  In the case of the two ‘linguists’, Fomina and Khazimulina, this was explained in a comprehensive report and then to the court by forensic linguist, Yelena Novozhilova.

This suspect ‘evidence’ as then backed by the even more dubious testimony of two ‘secret’ or anonymous witnesses.  Russia essentially bases all its political trials of Crimean Tatars and other Ukrainians on such alleged witnesses, with this strongly criticized in the 2021 UN Secretary General’s Report on the Human Rights Situation “in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, and found to violate a defendant’s right to justice by ECHR in 2020. 

Although the prosecutor is invariably backed by the court in Rostov in maintaining secrecy and blocking any questions that probe the worth of their ‘testimony’, the identity of both men is, in fact, known.  They are Narzulayev Salakhudin, an Uzbek  living in occupied Crimea without the proper documents and Konstantin Tumarevich, a fugitive from justice in his native Latvia.  These two men are believed to have either legalized their status or avoided being deported by acting as such ‘anonymous ‘witnesses’ in numerous cases involving Crimean Tatar political prisoners from Bakhchysarai.

All of the above-mentioned flaws in the case, as well as Russia’s violation of international law in applying its legislation on occupied territory, were systematically ignored by prosecutor Yevgeny Kolpikov and judges Rizvan Zubairov (presiding); Roman Saprunov and Maxim Nikitin from the Southern District Military Court in Rostov.

On 16 September 2020, Zubairov; Saprunov and Nikitin passed huge sentences against seven of the men.  Marlen Asanov was sentenced to 19 years in a harsh regime prison colony; Memet Belyalov – 18 years; Timur Ibragimov – 17 years; Seiran Saliyev – 16 years; Server Mustafayev – 14 years; Edem Smailov – 13 years and Server Zekiryaev – 13 years.  It was, frankly, always feared that the one and only acquittal to date of a Ukrainian political prisoner – Ernes Ametov – was for appearances.  It was swiftly challenged by the Russian prosecutor, and Ametov was later sentenced to 11 years.  While possible that the ‘acquittal’ was always seen as a temporary measure, the ferocity of the new sentence was also almost certainly in revenge for Ametov having refused to give false testimony against others.  Despite the huge irregularities and total lack of substance to the charges against the men, the Military court of appeal in Vlasikha (Moscow region) on 14 March 2022 not only overturned Ametov’s acquittal but upheld all other convictions, merely reducing Saliyev’s sentence to 15 years.

Russia has since used the same conversations, ‘experts’ and ‘secret witnesses’ to sentence Oleh Fedorov and Ernest Ibragimov to 13 years.

Please write to Server Mustafayev and, if possible, the other political prisoners sentenced with him!

The letters are a lifeline to the men and send an important message to Moscow that its treatment of Ukrainian political prisoners is under scrutiny. Letters need to be in Russian, handwritten, and on ‘safe’ subjects.  If that is a problem, use the sample letter below (copying it by hand), perhaps adding a picture or photo. Do add a return address so that the men can answer. 

Sample letter

Привет,

Желаю Вам крепкого здоровья и надеюсь, Вы скоро вернетесь домой, к своим родным.  Простите, что мало пишу – мне трудно писать по-русски, но мы все о Вас помним.

[Hi.  I wish you good health and hope that you will soon be home, with your family. I’m sorry that this letter is short – it’s hard for me to write in Russian., but you are not forgotten. ] 

Server Mustafayev

392000, Россия, Тамбов, ул. Мичуринская, д. 57, ФКУ ИК-1

Мустафаеву,  Серверу Рустемовичу, 1986 г.р.

[In English:  392000 Russian Federation, Tambov, Michurinskaya St., 57, Prison Colony No. 1

Mustafayev, Server Rustemovich,  b. 1986 ]

Ernes Ametov

162562, Россия, Вологодская область, р. п. Шексна, ул. Шоссейная, д. 42, ФКУ ИК-12 УФСИН России по Вологодской области,

Аметову Эрнесу Сейяровичу 1985 г. р.

[In English: 162562 Russia, Vologda oblast, Sheksna, 42 Shosseinaya St. Prison Colony No. 12

Ametov, Ernes Seiyarovich, b. 1985 ]

Marlen Asanov

431120, Россия, ФКУ ИК-7 УФСИН России по Республике Мордовия, Зубово-Полянский район, п. Сосновка, ул. Центральная, д. 2., 

Асанову, Марлену Рифатовичу, 1977 г. р

[In English:  431120 Russian Federation, Mordovia, Prison Colony No. 7, Zubovo-Polyansky raion, Sosnovka, No. 2 Tsentralnya St.

Asanov, Marlen Rifatovich, b. 1977 ]

Memet Belyalov

175130 Россия, Новгородская обл., рп. Парфино, ФКУ ИК-9,  ул. Народная, зд. 9.,

Белялову, Мемету Решатовичу, 1989 г.р.  

[In English:  175130 Russian Federation, Novgorod oblast, Parfino, Prison Colony No. 9, Narodnaya St., bld 9

Belyalov, Memet Reshatovich, b. 1989 ]

Timur Ibragimov

391825, Россия, ФКУ ИК-5, Рязанская область, Скопинский район, с. Клекотки

Ибрагимову, Тимуру Изетовичу, 1985 г.р.

[In English:  391825 Russian Federation, Ryazan oblast,  Klekotki,  Prison Colony No. 5

Ibragimov, Timur Izetovich, b. 1985 ]

Seiran Saliyev

301470, Россия, Тульская обл., Плавск, пос Белая Гора, ФКУ ИК-4

Салиеву,  Сейрану Алимовичу, 1985 г.р.

[In English:  301470, Russian Federation,  Tula oblast, Plavsk, Belaya Gora, Prison Colony No. 4

Saliyev, Seiran Alimovich, b. 1985 ]

Edem Smailov

156522, Россия, Костромская обл., Костромской район, пос. Бычиха-12, ФКУ ИК-7

Смаилову,  Эдему Назимовичу, 1968 г.р.

[In English:  156522, Russian Federation, Kostroma oblast, Bychykha-12, Prison Colony No. 7

Smailov, Edem Nazimovich, b. 1968 ]

Server Zekiryaev

301781, Россия, Тульская область, г. Донской, мкр. Комсомольский, пр-д Димитрова, 1, ФКУ ИК-1, ,

Зекирьяеву, Серверу Зекиевичу, 1973 г.р.

[In English:  301781 Russian Federation, Tula oblast, Donskoy, Komsomolsky, pr-d Dimitrova 1, Prison Colony No. 1

Zekiryaev, Server Zekievich, b. 1973 ]