April 23, 2014
On April 22, 2014, when crossing the administrative-territorial border of Crimea with Ukraine, Mustafa Dzhemilev, [a leader of the Crimean Tatars], was served with a document prohibiting entry into the territory of the Russian Federation. According to this document, Mustafa Dzhemilev is prohibited from entering the territory of the Russian Federation for a period of 5 years (until April 19, 2019) on the basis of section 1 of Article 27 of the Federal Law on the Procedure of the Departure and Entry to the Russian Federation.
The chairman of the Mejlis, Refat Chubarov, stated that: “Based on the information that I have, … these people could not have known who Mustafa Dzhemilev is. This man spent 15 years in Soviet prisons for the right to return to his homeland and for the right of his people to return to their homeland, [yet] today certain cynics are … taking similar actions and trying to prohibit him from returning to his homeland [Crimea]”.
Refat Chubarov emphasized that he would like to know the source of such a directive to understand where this person was in the 1970s or 1980s and if this is an older person. “If these are young people, I’d like to understand what they have been doing in terms of their own behavior. In any case, I can say that anyone who gave such an instruction is a scoundrel! M. Dzemilev’s activities can be judged many ways, but he is a person who spent his entire life helping his people return to their homeland without violence. Prohibiting him from returning to his homeland is cynicism and pettiness”.
According to the chairman of the Mejlis, Mustafa Dzhemilev plans to return to Crimea in a week. When asked what the Mejlis’ reaction would be if Dzhemilev is not be allowed onto the peninsula, Chubarov replied: “Thousands of people are ready to drive out to meet him…”
Translated by Anatoliy Shara
