Crimean Tatar Official Questioned, Warned By Russia-Imposed Officials
By Crimean Desk, RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service
SIMFEROPOL -- A deputy chairman of the Crimean Tatars' self-governing body, the Mejlis, has been summoned to the Russian-run Center for Combating Extremism in Ukraine's Russia-occupied Crimean Peninsula.
Nariman Dzhelyal said he was questioned for two hours on March 13 at the Simferopol-based center about a 2016 interview he gave to a Ukrainian television channel in which he was identified as a deputy chairman of the Mejlis.
Dzhelyal said he was warned that since the Mejlis is officially banned by Russian authorities, being a leader of the organization might lead to legal consequences for him.
Dzhelyal said he was also questioned about recently arrested Crimean Tatar activists who are listed as "friends" on his Facebook account.
In Kyiv, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maryana Betsa said on March 13 that the questioning of Dzhelyal was an example of the "continuation" of Russia's "repressions" in occupied Crimea.
Russia's Supreme Court in September 2016 declared the Mejlis an "extremist" organization and banned its activities in Russia, criminalizing any association with it.
Another deputy chairman of the Mejlis, Ilmi Umerov, is facing a trial on separatism charges in Simferopol.
Two human rights lawyers who represent Umerov also were detained and questioned in January at the so-called Center for Combating Extremism, which operates under Russia's Internal Affairs Ministry.
The U.S.-based nongovernmental organization Human Rights Watch says the charges against Umerov and other Crimean Tatars are "bogus" and "related to their vocal and public opposition of Russia's occupation of Crimea."
An overwhelming majority of Crimean Tatars oppose the Ukrainian peninsula’s seizure and annexation by Russia.
From RFE/RL's News Desk:
A municipal appeals court in Kyiv has upheld the two-month pretrial detention of Roman Nasirov, Ukraine's suspended tax and customs service chief, on embezzlement charges.
The appeals court also ruled on March 13 that bail allowing Nasirov to be transferred to house arrest should not be changed from the $3.7 million figure set by a lower court in Kyiv.
Ukrainian Protesters Wall Off Russia's Sberbank Headquarters In Kyiv
By RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service
The Kyiv headquarters of Russia's state-owned Sberbank has suspended operations in the midst of protests by anti-Kremlin demonstrators who blocked the entrance and windows of the building with concrete blocks on March 13.
Sberbank said it had officially asked police in Kyiv to protect the building as the protest continued on March 13.
Sberbank's other branches in Kyiv were continuing operations.
Dozens of anti-Kremlin protesters from Ukraine's nationalist Azov activist group who blocked the Sberbank headquarters are demanding a ban on Sberbank's operations in Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Azov activists claimed responsibility for using insulation foam on March 13 to damage dozens of ATM machines belonging to Russian banks in cities across Ukraine -- including Kyiv, Odesa, Kharkiv, Cherkasy, and Chernihiv.
Protests against Sberbank began on March 7 after Sberbank said it would recognize passports issued by Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.
A February 18 decree by Russian President Vladimir Putin's ordered all Russian authorities to recognize identity documents issued by pro-Russia separatists who hold parts of Ukraine's Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
On March 7, Ukraine's National Bank threatened to impose sanctions on the Ukrainian subsidiary of Sberbank if it recognizes the separatist regions' documents.
Sberbank on March 9 retracted its earlier statement, saying it is not going to recognize separatist-issued documents.