Crimean Tatar leaders Umerov and Chiygoz handed over to Turkey thanks to agreement between Poroshenko and Erdogan
The Russian authorities have handed over Ilmi Umerov and Akhtem Chiygoz to Turkey, Crimean Tatar leader Mustafa Dzhemilev told Ukrayinska Pravda.
The two deputy heads of the Mejlis were flown to Ankara.
Umerov and Chiygoz’s release became possible thanks to the agreements achieved as a result of Turkish President Recep Erdoğan ’s visit to Ukraine.
The lawyer Nikolai Polozov confirmed this information on Facebook.
“The thing we have been waiting for for so long has happened. Two more hostages, two Ukrainian political prisoners have gone free. Akhtem Chiygoz and Ilmi Umerov are fearless heroes of the Crimean Tatar people. Today they were released from criminal prosecution,” he wrote.
On October 26, at 15:41, President Poroshenko’s press secretary announced that Umerov and Chiygoz were already in Turkey.
“The plane with Ukrainian citizens Ilmi Umerov and Akhtem Chiygoz has landed in Ankara. At Poroshenko’s instruction, they will be met by our ambassador, who will facilitate their stay in Turkey,” he wrote.
First Deputy Chairperson of the Verkhovna Rada Iryna Herashchenko reported that Erdoğan intervened in the release of Umerov and Chiygoz at the personal request of President Petro Poroshenko.
“Only a few people know how many of President Poroshenko’s negotiations with the involvement of our dear Mustafa Dzhemilev, how many rounds of meetings took place in both New York, where our delegation made the matter of hostages a priority, and the president asked his Turkish colleague Erdoğan to get involved in the release, and in the closed meetings of presidents Poroshenko and Erdoğan in Kyiv,” she wrote on Facebook.
Herashchenko also reported that Umerov and Chiygoz were compelled to write a request for pardon to Russian President Vladimir Putin, but they refused.
Chiygoz was the primary defendant in the longest and most prominent criminal proceedings on the peninsula. As stated by official representative of the Russian Investigative Committee Vladimir Markin, Chiygoz was arrested “on suspicions of organizing and involvement in mass riots”. The events in question took place on February 26, 2014, when there was a protest outside the Crimean parliament building in Simferopol. Chiygoz was sentenced to 8 years of imprisonment according to Sec. 1 Art. 212 of the Russian Criminal Code (RCC).
Umerov was accused of inciting separatism, because he said that Crimea should be Ukrainian. According to the investigation, in March 2016 Umerov spoke in a broadcast of the TV channel ATR. Then his recording was published on the internet, after which he became a suspect according to section 2 article 280.1 of the RCC (public calls to carry out actions directed at violating the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation). He was sentenced to two years in a penal colony settlement according to sec. 2 art. 280.1 of the RCC.