Arrest of Mejlis Deputy Chairman to be appealed to ECHR – ombudswoman Lutkovska
An appeal to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) will be lodged over the arrest of Deputy Chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People Ahtem Chiygoz, Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Human Rights Commissioner Valeria Lutkovska has said.
"The latest case with the arrest of Deputy Chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People is legal surrealism," she said at a press conference in Kyiv on Friday.
The ombudswoman noted that according to Ukrainian law, Chiygoz has the right to hold a peaceful gathering on Ukrainian territory. "This [Chiygoz's arrest] shows how much the occupation authority disrespects the law, both national, Ukrainian and international. Clearly, [we] will appeal to the European Court of Human Rights. Clearly, [the court's] decisions will be in favor of this man [Chiygoz]," Lutkovska said.
She also noted that the international community must be involved in protecting the rights of Crimean residents. "What's happening now is a planned and systematic discrimination of the Crimean Tatars by the occupation authorities of Crimea," ombudswoman noted.
"Unfortunately, with the help from the Crimean Field Mission on Human Rights, we're now registering another phenomenon, the discrimination of Ukrainian minorities in Crimea," she added.
According to Lutkovska, the discrimination of the Crimean Tatars and Ukrainians has been observed in many cases, particularly when the murders of Crimean Tatars aren't investigated, or when a person is "automatically" stripped off Ukrainian citizenship.
As reported, on January 29, representatives of the Russian Investigative Committee detained Chiygoz in Crimea on suspicion of the organization of and involvement in riots. Simferopol's Kyivsky District Court ruled to keep him under arrest until February 19, 2015.
Chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatars Refat Chubarov said that Chiygoz's arrest is evidence that the occupation authorities in Crimea had started a new wave of repression against Crimean Tatar activists.
Ahtem Chiygoz (born in Bulungur on December 14, 1964) is a Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar politician. Since 2008, he has been a Mejlis Deputy Chairman.
