14:59 10.07.2018

Some 95% of searches in Crimea account for Crimean Tatars - Jemilev

2 min read

KYIV. July 10 (Interfax-Ukraine) - Ukrainian parliamentarian Mustafa Jemilev, the Ukrainian president's commissioner for the Crimean Tatar people, has said that 95% of searches in the occupied Crimea concern the Crimean Tatars.

"Now it is impossible to name the exact number of searches, but a few months ago we proceeded from the figure of 800 searches from the moment of occupation. About 95% of them still account for the Crimean Tatars [...] According to tentative figures, about 20,000-25,000 Crimean Tatars left Crimea," Jemilev said at a press conference at the Interfax-Ukraine news agency on Tuesday.

According to him, the pre-occupation statistics shows that the number of Crimean Tatars was 280,000, or 13% of the population of the Crimean peninsula.

"According to the census that they [the occupation authorities of Crimea] held in October 2014, it already turned out that there are 10.5% of Crimean Tatars, not 13.5%. Official statistics showed that there were 24.5% of ethnic Ukrainians before the occupation, and in accordance with the new census it turned out that there are 15.5% of ethnic Ukrainians," Jemilev added.

He suggested that a sharp reduction in the population of Crimean Tatars and ethnic Ukrainians could be caused by fear or non-participation of people in the census.

Coordinator and co-founder of the CrimeaSOS public organization, Tamila Tasheva, in turn, said that it was now known about 95 criminal cases opened in Crimea.

"Sixty-two people out of 95 are Crimean Tatars, 45 have already been convicted [...] Sixty-five people are already in prisons and 30 were given suspended sentences," she said.

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