Some 22 people missing, four dead in Crimea under Russian occupation – Jemilev

16:30, 08.04.2016 1 min read

Some 22 people have disappeared in Crimea and over 200 searches were carried on in homes of Crimean Tatars and in cultural institutions, said President's Commissioner for the Rights of the Crimean Tatars, Petro Poroshenko Bloc MP, Mustafa Jemilev.

"22 of our people are missing ... Most of them are Crimean Tatars, but there are three Ukrainians among them," Jemilev said at a press conference on Wednesday in Kyiv.

Four of those missing were found dead later, Jemilev said, noting that local authorities have not taken any steps to search for the missing.

"During two years of Crimean occupation by Russia over two hundred searches were carried on in homes of Crimean Tatars, schools and mosques," Jemilev said.

The reasons given for the searches were dubious. The included alleged possession of weapons and so-called forbidden literature, the latter being any non-Russian publications, Jemilev added.