“The decision of the Supreme court of the Crimea to ban the activities of Mejlis, the governing body for the Crimean Tatar people as “extremist organizations” is a serious attack on the rights of the Crimean Tatars as a whole”, — reads the statement of the European external action service released on Wednesday (Supreme court of the Crimea in quotes in the original text).
According to the official representative of European diplomacy Federica Mogherini, “this decision represents a further deterioration of the situation with human rights in the Crimean Peninsula after its illegal annexation by the Russian Federation in 2014, including prosecution of persons belonging to minorities”.
The EU calls on Russia “without delay to ensure full compliance with international standards in the field of human rights and other obligations under international law, in particular in this case in relation to the community of Crimean Tatars”.
The Supreme court of Crimea on Tuesday, April 26, satisfied the claim of Prosecutor of the Crimea Natalia Poklonskaya with a request to recognize the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar extremist organization and to ban its activities on Russian territory.
The Prosecutor pointed out that the Majlis took the course in the fight against the legitimate authorities, and its leaders — “puppets in the hands of large Western puppeteers”. Besides, she said, the organization has cooperated with terrorist organizations, “Gray wolves” and “Hizb-ut-Tahrir, banned in Russia.
On the eve of a sharp criticism of the prohibition of activity of organizations of the Crimean Tatars was organized by the Council of Europe and Ukraine.
