Occupants banned Mejlis mourning events dedicated to Crimean Tatars Genocide victims - Chubarov

Occupation “authorities” of Crimea banned holding mass mourning actions in memory of victims of the genocide of the Crimean Tatar people scheduled by Mejlis for 18 May.

Head of the Mejlis Refat Chubarov wrote it on his Facebook page.

“Russian occupiers banned holding mass mourning actions in memory of the victims of the genocide of the Crimean Tatar people scheduled for May 18, 2016 by regional and local Mejlis, the Crimean Tatar public organizations everywhere in Crimea,” wrote Chubarov.

He added that “in Crimea Russian invaders take all efforts in order to make the Crimean Tatars only participate in formal events held by the occupiers and their henchmen.”

According to UNIAN journalist, the so-called "head" of Crimea Sergey Aksyonov said that the occupational “authorities” will not prevent the funeral arrangements, but their format is still debatable. “The authorities in each municipality determine the format of the events. No one forbids. All issues are associated only with security measures for each individual event. Their format is to be discussed by authorities. There will be no blocking anywhere.”

From the beginning of the occupation of Crimea the human rights groups reported many times the human rights violations in the annexed peninsula. Most often they are directed against the opponents of the Russian "power", including the Crimean Tatars.

In late April, the activity of the representative body of Crimean Tatars – Mejlis was banned. It is suspected of “extremism.” The ban of Mejlis has caused harsh protests on the part of the European institutions and human rights organizations.