Anatoliy Kobzar's Disappearance: A Year Without Answers in Crimea

A year ago, 44-year-old Anatoliy Kobzar , a resident of Akyar (Sevastopol), was forcibly disappeared. The man's family still does not know where he is.

According to Eskender Bariev, Chairman of the Board of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center and a member of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people , Kobzar disappeared on March 5, 2024. That day, he went to work in Bakhchisarai, but did not return home. The next day, his house was searched, but the occupation forces did not provide the family with any information.

"People who saw the man's detention told Anatoliy's family that he was detained by the FSB," said the Chairman of the CTRC Board.

Two weeks after the disappearance, Kobzar's car was found in Bakhchisarai with broken windows. His phone remained switched on for some time after the disappearance - messages were received but not answered, and when the family tried to call, the device immediately turned off. The family believes that his pro-Ukrainian stance could have been the reason for his abduction.

"Anatoliy Kobzar was an entrepreneur. He had his own butcher shop and was engaged in private transportation of people. It is known that he openly expressed his pro-Ukrainian position and did not support the occupation "authorities" on the peninsula," Eskender Bariiev emphasized.

According to Bariiev, Anatoliy Kobzar's family is still in the dark. His wife and elderly mother are doing everything possible to find out the truth, but all appeals to the occupation "authorities" remain fruitless. The Chairman of the Board of the CCC emphasizes that the occupation "authorities" are responsible for Kobzar's life.

"This is a forcible abduction, and the occupation "authorities" bear full responsibility for the man's life," Eskender Bariiev said.

Currently, the Crimean Tatar Resource Center is preparing a statement to the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances and will make every effort to find Anatoliy Kobzar and bring the perpetrators to justice.

In December 2024, the Russian occupiers transferred illegally convicted 64-year-old Crimean Tatar Servet Gaziyev from prison #2 in the Vladimir region. Since then, his family has not known where he is.

In prisons, the occupiers are trying to break the Crimean residents. In the first 9 months of 2024, Russian security forces placed Crimean political prisoners in punishment cells, special units and solitary confinement at least 16 times. In total, since 2017, 10,018 violations of fundamental human rights have been recorded in the Russian-annexed Crimea, 6,730 of which were committed against members of the indigenous Crimean Tatar people.

Олеся Ланцман