The Mission of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea has condemned the actions of the Russian authorities in Crimea because of the "prosecution of editor-in-chief of the Qırım newspaper Bekir Mamutov for publishing a report of the UN Secretary General, which mentioned the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people," the krymr.com website (the project of the Ukrainian service of Radio Liberty) has reported.

"These actions are evidence of the continuation of the policy of persecution of both freedom of speech and the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people. The Mission calls for an end to the persecution of freedom of speech and the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people in the temporarily occupied Crimea, to implement the award of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued in 2017 in the Ukraine v. Russia case, which introduced provisional measures, in particular to refrain from limitations on the expression of interests of Crimean Tatars, including activities of the Mejlis and stop the persecution of the editor-in-chief of the Qırım newspaper Bekir Mamutov," the Mission said in a press release quoted by krymr.com.

The Russian-controlled Magistrate Court of Kyivsky District of Simferopol has begun hearing of an administrative offense case against Mamutov. In relation to Mamutov, a protocol was drawn up under Article 13.15 of the Administrative Offenses Code of Russia for the publication of the UN Secretary General's report, which referred to the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people.

In 2016, the so-called Supreme Court of Crimea recognized the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people as an extremist organization and banned its activities on Russian territory.

In 2017, Ukraine filed a lawsuit against Russia with the ICJ arguing that Russia violated the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism (ICSFT) and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD).