Russia unleashes new wave of terror and arrests of Crimean Tatars in occupied Crimea
Posted on 01/25/2023 4:57:45 PM PST by UMCRevMom@aol.com
Update from Ukraine | The chance for Ukrainian army in Bakhmut | Abrams Tanks Approved USA❤UA
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Sensitive content!
Kreminna, Sievierodonetsk Raion
“War is bloody and cruel.”
Sharing a week in the trench with medevac doctors; daily trips to evacuate the wounded; a desperate struggle to save human life.
Severe contusions, shrapnel wounds, torn limbs. Screams of pain and rivers of blood, a lot of blood. All the soldiers in these photos survived thanks to the professional help of our military doctors. Those who could be saved were saved. But, there are those who didn’t make it.
Today, our best people sacrifice their health and lives for Freedom while civilians far from the combat zone attempt to maintain the illusion of a normal life. But, we all know what price our Defenders pay every minute, every day. This war concerns everyone.
All of us have gone through hell and high water since February 24; we have changed and hardened.
This is our land, our home, and there is nowhere else for us to go!
That is a very good question, and one that will most likely never be answered.
Let me give you a scenario. The United States military occupies Iraq and is trying to quash an Islamic insurgency. We then discover that Iran is providing weapons, vehicles and explosives to those Islamic rebels. Do you think the United States would see that as a casus belli to retaliate against Iran? You bet your ass Washington saw this as an act of war against the United States. The George W. Bush administration started providing funding and support to a terrorist groups in Iran, the MEK, and stepped up its denunciation of Iran as a terrorist state.
So why in the world of the sane does the United States and NATO think that they can send advanced weapons to Ukraine for the purpose of killing Russians. If we use the principle the U.S. followed in Iraq, Russia is fully entitled to treat the U.S. and NATO as supporters of terrorism. This is the principle of “What is good for the goose is good for the gander.”
Update for January 25, 2023: West pledges main battle tanks to Ukraine + Myanmar’s upcoming elections targeted by US-backed terrorism.
- Western media reports resignation of several high-level Ukrainian officials;
- The US and Germany have pledged the M1 Abrams and Leopard 2 main battle tanks;
- Western military experts explain that Western main battle tanks require large logistical support, years of training for a foreign army to adopt them, and have intense maintenance requirements;
- ATACMS exist in much small numbers;
- Ukraine admits Russia has adapted to HIMARS GMLRS rockets, making it likely that Russia will adapt to ATACMS;
- Conversely, Russia has effectively forced Ukraine’s rear areas into neighboring countries with its missile forces;
- The US has announced increase artillery shell production to 90k shells/month in 2 years a month, roughly half of what Ukraine uses in 15 days;
- As the US wages proxy war in Ukraine against Russia, it does so in Myanmar against China;
- US-backed opposition is using terrorism to impede elections in Myanmar;
The Kremlin has put necessary mechanisms in place to galvanise the defence industry and the economy to meet the needs of the military operations in Ukraine. From a long-term perspective, one historic outcome of the conflict is going to be Russia’s emergence as an unassailable military power that draws comparison with the Soviet Red Army, which the West will never again dare to confront. This is yet to sink in.
The internal western assessment is that the war is going badly for Ukraine. Spiegel reported last week that Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service (BND) “informed security politicians of the Bundestag in a secret meeting this week that the Ukrainian army is currently losing a three-digit number of soldiers every day in battles.”
The BND told the German MPs that it is particularly “alarmed by the high losses of the Ukrainian army in the battle for the strategically important city of Bakhmut” (in Donetsk) and warned that “the Russians’ capture of Bakhmut would have significant consequences, as it would allow Russia to make further forays into the interior of the country.”
“most likely never be answered.”
True. Most ignore CapandBall.
Mass detentions in occupied Crimea as Russia openly terrorizes Crimean Tatars
26.01.2023
Halya Coynash
Kharkiv Human Rights Protection Group
https://khpg.org/en/1608811743
Mass detentions on 25.01.2023, Both an underage lad and quite elderly people were taken into custody without any justification Photo Crimean Solidarity
33 Crimean Tatars, including a 17-year-old lad and at least two people with serious health issues were detained by enforcement officers in occupied Crimea on 25 January because they had tried to attend a politically motivated ‘court’ hearing. There were no grounds for detaining anybody, yet all (except perhaps the 17-year-old) remain in custody, with the heavy-handed measures clearly aimed at terrorizing Crimean Tatars who refuse to look away when the Russian FSB arrests their compatriots on fabricated charges.
All of the men now in custody had simply arrived at the occupation Kievsky district court in Simferopol where the detention hearing was due to begin against six Crimean Tatars from the Dzhankoi region: 67-year-old Khalil Mambetov; Osman Abdurazakov; Aider Asanov; Ekrem Krosh; Refat Seidametov and Leman Zekeryaev.
The six men had been taken prisoner on 24 January after armed ‘searches’, at which the men’s lawyers were not allowed to be present. These found nothing illegal, expect the ‘prohibited religious literature’ which the FSB officers had brought with them and pretended to ‘find’.
25 January 2023 marks the eighth anniversary since the Russian FSB first launched its conveyor belt prosecutions of Crimean Tatar and other Ukrainian Muslims on absurd ‘terrorism’ charges. All those previously arrested, including prominent civic journalists and activists, are internationally recognized as political prisoners, and there is every reason to consider the six men arrested on 24 January as the latest victims of Russian persecution.
A large number of the men arrested, including 17-year-old Amar Abdulgaziev, had every reason to understand why the charges against the six new victims were grotesque. Amar’s father, Tofik Abdulgaziev, is one of the 25 civic journalists and activists, most from the Crimean Solidarity human rights initiative, who were arrested in March 2019 or soon afterwards. Amar was just 14 years old during the arrest of his father yet one of the officers turned to him and said “Your turn will also come. We’ll return for you”.
The words were doubtless intended to intimidate the lad. They failed. In an interview to Crimean Solidarity Coordinator Lutfiye Zudiyeva, Amar explained that he had become interested in the work of civic journalists after his father’s arrest, and he began attending political ‘court’ hearings and filming the treatment of other Crimean Tatars. “I film and demonstrate the injustice being done to them. I have firmly decided to circulate and provide coverage of news so that people know about the repression in Crimea.”
By April 2022, Amar had been fined on absurd administrative charges three times, with his mother also issued a formal warning on one occasion as he was underage.
Amar was seized by Russian enforcement officers outside the ‘court’ in the morning of 25 January 2023, together with another Crimean Solidarity civic journalist, Kulamet Ibraimov. The men used force against Amar, and dragged him away with his hands behind his back. There were no grounds even for his detention, let alone the physical violence against the lad. He was seemingly released much later that evening, but is facing two administrative charges under Articles 19.3 (‘disobeying an enforcement officer’) of Russia’s code of ‘administrative offences’, and 20.2.2 “organization of the simultaneous presence or movement in public places causing a disturbance to public order”. There was no disturbance, nor any disobedience, but this means nothing in Russian-occupied Crimea, and convictions are near guaranteed.
It seems clear that the repressive measures were planned in advance with police vans, Rosgvardia and other enforcement officers at the ‘court’ at 9 a.m.. Ismet Memetov explained while in the police van that he and his companions had entered the ‘court’ building and asked if they could attend the hearing. They were told that it was a closed hearing (which it should not have been) and they left the building, and stood outside.
It was there that officers came up and demanded that they get into the police van. It was claimed that this was to check their identity and that they would then be released, however they and over 30 others were detained and, as of late on Wednesday evening, remain in custody.
In a move of particular brutality, it appears that the occupation authorities are planning to also charge Kazim Ablyalimov under Article 20.2.2 with ‘organizing the simultaneous presence or movement of citizens in public places, causing disturbance of public order.”
The only disturbance was caused by the enforcement officers detaining people, yet Kazim Ablyalimov was forced into a police van. It was there that he learned that his elderly father had died. Instead of being able to grieve and assume his duties as his father’s son in organizing the funeral, he is in detention and, almost certainly facing an unwarranted term of ‘administrative arrest’.
There is a list of all of those detained below, with this clearly including several members of the families of men arrested on 24 January. All six Crimean Tatars taken prisoner then were remanded in custody for the standard two months, with this invariably extended effectively until the ‘trial’ with its predetermined outcome. Russian-controlled ‘courts’ almost invariably do as they are told, even in the case of Crimean Tatar pensioner Khalil Mambetov who is 67 and who is needed at home to provide daily care for his wife who is suffering from cancer.
Detained for peaceful solidarity with victims of persecution
Amar Abdulgaziev (17 years old, and violently detained)
Eskender Abdulkarimov
Kazim Ablyalimov
Abdulyaziz Adzhiumerov
Amet Ametov
Muslim Asanov
Ruslan Belyalov (who has serious health issues)
Dilyaver Ibragimov
Kulamet Ibraimov, Crimean Solidarity correspondent, who was there in a professional capacity
Remzi Islyamov
Lemar Ismailov
Shevket Kiyamov
Enver Kurtnezirov
Shevket Kurtumerov
Rustem Kurzhchi
Nariman Medzhitov
Ismet Memetov
Server Memetov
Serhiy Osmanov
Reshat Paralamov
Seidamet Seitablayev
Sabri Seidametov
Seitkhalil Seidametov
Settar Temirgaziev
Arsen Umerov
Ruslan Umerov
Server Useinov
Yusup Useinov
Yagya Yagyaev
Abdumadzhit Zekeryaev
Aider Zekeryaev
Asan Zekeryaev
Midat Zhalilov
Russia unleashes new wave of terror and arrests of Crimean Tatars in occupied Crimea
ARTICLE
Russia unleashes new wave of terror and arrests of Crimean Tatars in occupied Crimea
25.01.2023
Halya Coynash
https://khpg.org/en/1608811735
Russia’s FSB have staged another round of armed ‘searches’ in occupied Crimea, with six Crimean Tatars, including a 67-year-old, detained and even denied access to their chosen lawyers. These new arrests came almost exactly eight years after the FSB first launched its most cynical conveyor belt of repression in occupied Crimea, with identical charges and methods for fabricating evidence already used against over 100 Crimean Tatars and other Ukrainian Muslims. Not one has ever been accused of any recognizable crime, yet sentences of up to 20 years are essentially guaranteed, together with bonuses or promotion to the FSB officers initiating the prosecutions.
The FSB, together with armed and masked OMON riot police and other enforcement officers, burst into six homes in different parts of the Dzhankoi region of occupied Crimea from 4 a.m. on 24 January. This was the second time that men from this region were seized, with the FSB, as is often the case, going for easy targets, and arresting two men whose brothers have been imprisoned since 11 August 2022.
These raids are doubtless aimed partly at instilling terror in the entire Crimean Tatar community, but the FSB also used them here, as on countless other occasions, to plant so-called ‘prohibited’ religious literature for later use as ‘evidence’. This is one of the reasons why they immediately take family members’ phones away and illegally prevent lawyers from being present and witnessing officers pretending to ‘find’ the books that they have, in fact, brought with them. Lawyers would also speak out about the manner in which at least one of the men, Aider Asanov, was forced to the ground and kicked by the officers.
The six men are: Osman Abdurazakov (the brother of another political prisoner, Edem Bekirov); Aider Asanov; Ekrem Krosh (brother of civic activist and political prisoner Enver Krosh); 67-year-old Khalil Mambetov; Refat Seidametov and Leman Zekeryaev.
Islyam Veliliaev and the other lawyers who arrived to represent the men have been prevented from seeing them. The ‘investigator’ claims that this is before the lawyers are representing the men from Dzhankoi region arrested on 11 August 2022. The FSB assert that one of the defendants could change his testimony, with this then causing a conflict since the same lawyer would be representing people with opposing positions. Veliliaev dismisses such an argument. There are no grounds for thinking that any of the men will change their testimony and suggestions of a hypothetical nature cannot justify depriving the men of legal assistance from the lawyers of their choice
Lawyer Emil Kurbedinov, whose defence of victims of political persecution in these and other cases, have resulted in him facing persecution, also rejects the FSB ‘investigator’s’ claim. He is convinced that this is simply an attempt to get rid of lawyers. If you follow their logic, he says, you could end up arguing that, since Hizb ut-Tahrir [the peaceful transnational organization that the men are accused of involvement in] is one organization, no lawyer could represent several defendants from different cases since one of these defendants could, hypothetically, change their testimony.
In literally all of these cases, men are arrested, remanded in custody and then given long sentences merely on charges of ‘involvement’ in Hizb ut-Tahrir. This peaceful organization is legal in Ukraine and most countries, and is not known to have committed acts of terrorism anywhere in the world. The suspiciously secretive 2003 ruling from the Russian Supreme Court declaring Hizb ut-Tahrir ‘terrorist’ was never explained, and may well have been a ploy enabling Russia to send refugees back to Uzbekistan where they faced religious persecution.
The FSB designate at least one, but sometimes many of those arrested, as ‘organizer’ of a purported ‘Hizb ut-Tahrir group’ under Article 205.5 § 1 of Russia’s criminal code. The others are accused of ‘involvement’ in such a ‘group’ (Article 205.5 § 2). The difference lies in the length of sentence, with those facing the ‘organizer’ charge essentially guaranteed of being sentenced to 17 – 20 years, while ‘involvement’ can carry from 11 – 16 years. Why the FSB designates one or the other charge seems largely arbitrary, although there have been cases where the charge was changed to the more serious ‘organizer’ because, for example, the person refused to remain silent about having been tortured. It has become standard for the FSB to also add the equally absurd charge of planning to violently seize power’, under Article 278. Worth noting that the renowned Memorial Human Rights Centre reported during the first years of such persecution in occupied Crimea that the additional charge in Russia was often added against those who refused to ‘cooperate’ with the investigators. None of the Crimean Tatars or other Ukrainian Muslims arrested on these charges has agreed to such collaboration, and the additional charge has become virtually automatic.
The sentences are, essentially, also automatic, although the ‘evidence’ is as flawed as the charges. The men are typically tried and sentenced on the basis of innocuous conversations about religion or politics which are then ‘assessed’ by FSB-loyal ‘experts’ who invariably claim that they prove Hizb ut-Tahrir leanings. The most shocking aspect, however, is the use of secret witnesses, who may never have met the defendants but who are allowed to give ‘testimony’ under false names and with their voices changed, and without any possibility of verifying their words. The ‘judges’ from the Southern District Military Court do not merely allow such secrecy, but aggressively prevent the defence from asking questions that expose the lies being told.
In recognizing all of the men as political prisoners, Memorial HRC has stressed that Russia is violating international law by applying its legislation on occupied territory, and by forcibly taking political prisoners to Russia. As mentioned, Hizb ut-Tahrir is perfectly legal in Ukraine. Even without this, however, there can be absolutely no grounds for charging men with ‘terrorism’ on the basis purely of alleged religious and political beliefs and purported involvement in a non-violent organization.
Russia has also received international condemnation for these ‘Hizb ut-Tahrir cases’ because it is very clearly using such ‘terrorism’ charges as a weapon against civic journalists and activists, and against the Crimean Tatar human rights movement in general.
While international attention is vital, sanctions are also needed against the FSB who fabricate such prosecutions, the Russian prosecutors and ‘judges’ and others who take part in sentencing innocent men to huge periods of imprisonment in the worst of Russian penal institutions.
Supposed ’deportation’ Screenshot from a pro-Russian Telegram channel, Larysa Dolya, missing since 11 January
“Ukrainian civilians disappear without trace after the Russians claim to have ‘humanely deported’ them”
25.01.2023
Halya Coynash
Larysa Hryhorivna Dolya has not been seen since fighters linked with the notorious Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov turned up at her home in the village of Tarasivka, Zaporizhzhia oblast, on 11 January and took her away. She is one of many Ukrainian civilians whom the Russian invaders have claimed to have ‘deported’ from occupied territory, but who have simply disappeared.
The Kadyrov fighters who seized Dolya told her family that they were taking her for interrogation and that she would return in two days. Her relatives went to the Russian military command on 12 January and were then told that the paramedic was in ‘prison’. The Russians claimed that this was because Dolya had both refused to accept Russian citizenship and to collaborate and had, they alleged, encouraged other Ukrainians to not take Russian money.
On 18 January, the Russians told Larysa’s brother that she had been ‘deported’ to government-controlled territory from occupied Vasylivka. She has not, however, arrived in government-controlled Zaporizhzhia, and there are clearly grave concerns as to why the Russians are lying.
The news of her disappearance comes just days after Ivan Fedorov, Mayor of Melitopol, reported that residents of the Zaporizhzhia oblast “whom the occupiers deport vanish without trace in Vasylivka.”
Fedorov explained that on 15 December, the Russians had closed the only route out of occupied territory via Vasylivka, to government-controlled Zaporizhzhia. They had claimed that this was merely for the New Year break and that the route would again be opened on 15 January. This, however, has not happened. The Russians had pretended to make a “gesture of unheard-of generosity and allowed children, women and the elderly” to travel the ten kilometre journey on foot.
The Russians have also claimed to be acting ‘humanely’ by ‘deporting’ Ukrainians whose pro-Ukrainian position is described as being ‘extremist’. The invaders and local collaborators openly speak of stripping people of all of their positions, ‘deporting’ them with just their passport and “a bottle of water”.. Such so-called ‘deportations’, with masked individuals reading out the supposed ‘decision’ on expulsion are videoed and widely circulated on pro-Russian Telegram channels and Russian media.
There would be absolutely nothing ‘humane’ about such methods even without the doubts as to where the civilians abducted are actually taken. This is the behaviour of terrorists, with whole families targeted. On 20 January, Yevhen Balitsky, a local collaborator whom the Russians have labelled the ‘head of the Zaporizhzhia oblast’, openly threatened that entire families would be ‘deported’ if their members did not report relatives taking part in so-called ‘extremist activities’ (namely having a pro-Ukrainian position and opposing the invaders).
As reported, the Russian invaders first threatened ‘deportation’ from occupied parts of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts in July 2022. Such expulsions were to be for pro-Ukrainian views and for what was labelled “discrediting” the invaders, i.e. circulating truthful information about Russia’s invasion and the crimes it is committing on Ukrainian territory.
The move was clearly on Moscow’s orders, with the Russian-installed collaborators in both areas signing ‘decrees’ on 15 July threatening such expulsion within 24 hours (more details here).
There were earlier cases where Ukrainian civilians were first seized, tortured and imprisoned for long periods, but then genuinely released. The Media Initiative for Human Rights spoke with a young couple who were seized while posting patriotic flyers around Melitopol.
There are, however, also a huge number of civilians whose abduction has never been admitted, but who are believed to be imprisoned, and have almost certainly been or are being tortured, by the invaders.
VIDEOs
25 Jan: First Results. Russian LOSSES SKYROCKET | War in Ukraine Explained
Reporting from Ukraine
1-25-2023 7:00 p.m. EST
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwZLw5xflQg
Wounded defenders sing the Ukrainian anthem during evacuation. Glory to Heroes!
1-25-2023 11:30 a.m. EST
https://fb.watch/ihOydZ_CTh/
The Russophiles curse out the US and cheer cursing the US.
Is this site FR or DU?
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