KYIV, Ukraine — The plight of a Muslim minority in Russian-occupied Crimea is highlighting a crackdown in a region that President Vladimir Putin has tried to present as an example of the Kremlin’s right to Ukrainian territory.
The Crimean Tatars consider the peninsula their historic homeland having ruled it from the 15th to the 18th centuries, and made up 12 percent of the area’s population of 2 million before Moscow illegally annexed it nine years ago. The area is considered occupied under international law.
Nine years after Russia’s takeover of the area, rights groups are raising the alarm about what they call Moscow’s persecution campaign, pointing to alleged reprisals against members of the Tatar community in Crimea because of their loyalty to Kyiv.
One of the highest-profile cases involves Nariman Dzelyal, a deputy head of the Crimean Tatar representative body, Mejlis. Seven months after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, he was sentenced to 17 years imprisonment at the Supreme Court of Crimea for aiding the sabotage of a gas pipeline on the peninsula.
One of nearly 200 Tatars who Ukraine considers to be political prisoners in Crimea, Dzelyal vehemently denies the charge and several rights groups, including Amnesty International, have condemned his conviction as illegitimate. The State Department has also called for his release. Dzelyal’s lawyer, Nikolai Polozov, told NBC News his case is “undoubtedly politically motivated.”
NBC News has approached Crimean authorities for comment on Dzelyal’s case and accusations of repressions against the community but did not hear back.
In 2021 on March 18, the day Russia marks the anniversary of the annexation, President Vladimir Putin denied there had been any reprisals against Crimean Tatars. He said accusations of harassment and rights infringements of the community are “untrue,” according to a press statement on the Kremlin’s website.
Despite denials from his government, human rights…
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