Five Crimean Tatar Activists Get Suspended Prison Terms Over 2014 Protest
By Crimea Desk of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service
SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine -- A Russian court in Crimea has convicted five Crimean Tatar activists of taking part in "mass disturbances" in February 2014 and handed them suspended prison sentences ranging from 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 years.
The court in Simferopol, the capital of the Russian-controlled Ukrainian region, pronounced the verdicts and sentences on June 19.
The five men -- Ali Asanov, Mustafa Degermendzhy, Eskendir Kantemirov, Eskendir Emirvaliev, and Arsen Yunusov -- were among a group who staged a protest outside the regional legislature in February 2014.
The demonstration occurred as Russia moved to seize control of the Black Sea peninsula following street protests in Kyiv that pushed Moscow-friendly Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych from power.
The five were arrested and charged by Russian authorities in 2015.
Akhtem Chiygoz, a prominent leader of the Crimean Tatars’ local assembly, was also charged for his participation in the protest.
He was sentenced to eight years in prison in September 2017, but weeks later he was taken to Turkey and freed. He later moved to Kyiv.
Moscow’s takeover of Crimea in March 2014 was vocally opposed by many members of the Crimea Tatar population, who make up a sizable minority of the peninsula.
Here is today's map of the security situation in eastern Ukraine, according to the National Security and Defense Council (CLICK TO ENLARGE):
Protesters Clash With Police, Seek Entry Into Ukraine Parliament
By RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service
KYIV -- Crowds of protesters including coal miners, Chernobyl cleanup workers, and Soviet Afghan war veterans have clashed with police outside the Ukrainian parliament.
Some of the more than 2,000 protesters broke though a police cordon and were trying to enter the parliament building during the demonstration on June 19.
Police used what appeared to be tear gas, but the protest continued.
The protesters included veterans of the Soviet Union's 1979-89 war in Afghanistan, "liquidators" who were sent to the Chernobyl nuclear power plant after the 1986 disaster there, coal miners, and Ukrainians who have fought in the ongoing war with Russia-backed separatists in the country's east.
Their demands included improved benefits for public transportation use, increases in state support for disabled veterans, and the allocation of billions of hryvnyas for the development of the country’s struggling coal industry.
Kyiv police said earlier that the protests caused complications for transport on two major streets in the city center.
Ukrainian Ombudswoman Not Allowed To Meet With Ukrainian Journalist Held In Russia
By RFE/RL
Ukrainian ombudswoman Lyudmyla Denisova was not allowed to meet with Ukrainian journalist Roman Sushchenko in a Moscow detention center, the Ukrainian parliament's deputy speaker says.
Iryna Herashchenko wrote on Facebook on June 18 that despite a court’s ruling allowing Denisova to see the journalist, she was not allowed to see him and her written request to see Sushchenko had been sent for approval to the Federal Penitentiary Service.
On June 4, the Moscow City Court found Sushchenko guilty of espionage and sentenced him to 12 years in a strict-regime prison. Sushchenko maintains his innocence, saying the case against him is politically motivated.
Last week, Denisova was not allowed to see two other Ukrainian citizens: Oleh Sentsov in a penitentiary in the far-northern Yamalo-Nenets region, and Mykola Karpyuk in a penal colony in the Vladimir region.
Sentsov is a Crimea native who is serving a 20-year prison term in Russia after being convicted on terrorism charges that he and human rights groups say were politically motivated. He started a hunger strike on May 14, demanding the release of 64 Ukrainian citizens he considers political prisoners.
Karpyuk, who also denies any wrongdoing, was sentenced to 22 years in prison in 2016 after a court in Russia's Chechnya region found him guilty of fighting alongside Chechen separatists in the 1990s.
On May 15, Russian Ombudswoman Tatyana Moskalkova said that Denisova's attempt to meet with Sentsov violated "agreements reached previously."
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on June 18 that he is not aware of why Denisova was unable to meet with Sentsov.
With reporting by TASS
That concludes our live-blogging of the Ukraine crisis for Monday, June 18, 2018. Check back here tomorrow for more of our continuing coverage.