The Russian authorities in occupied Crimea continue to persecute Crimean Tatars in the so-called 'Noman Chelebidzhikhan battalion cases'. The women are accused of involvement in an alleged "illegal armed group" that is considered a terrorist organization in Russia.
This was reported by the head of the board of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center EskenderBariev.
Recently, it became known about the arrests in absentia of two more Crimean Tatars from Genichesk district - Amina Kadyr and Elmira Umerova, who had previously received suspended sentences. Bariiev emphasizes that the Russian authorities need only the slightest suspicion to detain and arrest a person for involvement in the battalion. It can even be just a drive by or 'a casual glance at the area where its members were located.
Since 2014, the Crimean Tatar Resource Center has recorded at least 66 detentions on charges of membership in the battalion: 19 in occupied Crimea and 47 in the occupied part of the Kherson region after the full-scale invasion.
The Noman Chelebidzhikhan Battalion was created in 2016. It helped to implement the blockade of occupied Crimea, and its goal was to protect the rights of Crimean Tatars. In Russia, it has been recognized as a 'terrorist' organization and banned.
The occupiers have started another illegal trial against a Crimean Tatar and a prisoner of war of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. It is about 42-year-old Seyran Asanov, who served in the 48th separate assault battalion named after Noman Chelebidzhikhan. He is accused of "participation in a terrorist formation" and is being sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Asanov was mobilized to the battalion on August 26, 2024. In the fall of the same year, he was captured near the village of Zolota Niva in Donetsk region. Since December 19, 2024, the prisoner of war has been held in pre-trial detention center No. 2 in the occupied Chongar, Kherson region. His status was confirmed by the International Committee of the Red Cross. Despite this, the occupation authorities released a video of Asanov 's interrogations and initiated a trial against him.
