Activists in Kiev call on Russia to investigate disappearances in Crimea
Activists held a protest in Kiev in support of Erwin Ibrahimov and other Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars who have disappeared in the Crimea. As a correspondent of Krym.Realii reports, about 20 people came to the Russian Embassy in Ukraine with “Where is Erwin?” placards.
Human rights advocates, including representatives from the Crimea SOS public initiative and the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People, as well as Crimean resident and former political prisoner in Russia Gennady Afanasiev, exhorted Russia to investigate the enforced disappearances of people in the Crimea.
According to the participants in the protest, the attention of the world community should be drawn to this problem.
After the protest, the participants attached the posters to the embassy fence. The building itself was closed; a placard standing next to the building indicated that some construction work was being carried out.
Erwin Ibrahimov’s kidnapping in Bakhchysarai was reported on May 24, 2016. Crimean management from the Russian Investigative Committee (Sledcom) declares that they have already begun the search of the missing resident of Crimea.
Relatives of Erwin Ibrahimov announced a one-million-ruble reward for his return.
Russian-Crimean prosecutor Natalia Poklonskaya determined three possible motives for the kidnapping: abduction for ransom, Ibrahimov’s business affairs, and “kidnapping with the aim of destabilizing the situation in Crimea, especially wishing to slander the Crimean law enforcement agencies.”
After the annexation of the Crimean Peninsula, cases of disappearances became more frequent, mainly among Crimean Tatars. At the same time, the Russian-controlled Crimean Sledcom argues that “there are no mass disappearances of Crimean Tatars on the peninsula.”