Relatives of imprisoned Crimean women hand over appeal with 6 thousand signatures

The relatives of the imprisoned Crimean Tatars handed over a collective letter calling for the women's release. They described the obstacles during the trip and emphasized the groundlessness of the charges against them.

This was reported by Crimean Solidarity.

An appeal demanding the release of four illegally detained Crimean Tatar women - Esma Nimetulayeva, Nasiba Saidova, Elviza Aliyeva and Fevziya Osmanova - was handed over to the office of the Russian Ombudsman. More than 6.5 thousand people signed the document.

The appeal to the Russian Ombudsman Tatyana Moskalkova was handed over by lawyer Nazim Sheikhmambetov and relatives of the political prisoners - the parents and husband of Nasiba Saidova, the mother of Fevziya Osmanova and Elviza Aliyeva.

Nasiba Saidova's mother, Dinara Iyupova, noted:"Despite the obstacles from the police and special services, we managed to deliver a collective appeal from Crimea. We will continue to fight for the freedom of our children. I thank everyone who signed the document and supports our daughters."

The appeal, signed by Sadyk Urinbayev, reports that on October 15, Russian security forces searched four Crimean Tatar families and detained women. They were charged with "involvement in terrorist activities" and "attempted seizure of power," which the relatives consider groundless.

The document also emphasizes:"Esma Nimetulayeva is raising five children, the youngest is under 5 years old. Elviza Aliyeva is a 4th year student of the Faculty of Management. Nasiba Saidova is a student of the Pedagogical College and works as a teacher. Fevziya Osmanova works in a family store. All of them are known for their modesty, decency and religiosity and have nothing to do with violence or terrorism."

The delegation from Crimea traveled to Moscow for more than a day and a half, during which Russian security forces detained buses with relatives and activists five times for no reason. They were also stopped in a taxi a few minutes before arriving at the office of the Russian Ombudsman and the documents of the delegation members were confiscated. Earlier, members of the group had already been issued warnings for allegedly "anti-social behavior."

Анна Бальчінос