Historian detained in Crimea for drawing parallels between the Soviet Union and the Nazis

In the annexed Crimea, security forces have begun to persecute 74-year-old historian Enver Seitmemetov for his long-standing statements about the crimes of the USSR. The man is accused of equating the actions of the Soviet authorities with the Nazi ones, which became possible after the adoption of repressive laws in Russia.

This was reported by Krym.Realii.

In the annexed Crimea, the Russian authorities are persecuting historian Enver Seitmemetov for comparing the actions of the USSR and Nazi Germany during World War II. Such a "violation" appeared in Russian legislation after the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. For Crimea, this is the first known case of application of this article.

Russia introduced the article on the "identification" of the USSR and Nazi Germany into its administrative code in April 2022. At that time, Russian troops were already actively fighting in Ukraine, and the parallels with the events of World War II and the role of the USSR in it were becoming more and more obvious. Instead, the Russian authorities began to punish anyone who drew such historical analogies.

About ten security forces came to Seitmemetov 's house in Bakhchisarai. The man was taken to the Center "E" in Simferopol and an administrative report was drawn up against him. The basis was a video published by Crimean Solidarity in 2020. In it, the historian says that the international community should have held trials not only of the Nazis, but also of the "winners" who also made decisions that led to crimes.

The expert who made the conclusion for the police stated that the historian allegedly equated the deportations of Crimean Tatars, Greeks and other peoples in 1944 with the crimes of the Nazi regime. The historian himself refused to give written testimony, and he did not have a lawyer with him. He was taken to court, but the hearing was postponed until December 2, as the judge summoned an expert for questioning.

The Crimean Tatar Resource Center called the detention of the scientist another pressure on the Crimean Tatar community and persecution of relatives of political prisoners. Enver Seitmemetov is the uncle of four defendants in the Hizbut-Tahrir criminal case, which Ukrainian human rights activists consider politically motivated.

Earlier, Ukrainian scientist Leonid Pshenychenov was detained in Crimea, accused of treason. Colleagues and the international community condemned the arrest as groundless and called on Russia to release the scientist.

Анна Бальчінос