Crimean Tatar activist wins Czech human rights prize

Nariman Dzhelyal, first Deputy Head of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatars, has won a prize The Story of Injustice. A renowned Czech human rights organisation, People in Need, awards this prize.

Source: Refat Chubarov, head of Mejlis, and Jan Lipavský, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Czechia

Quote: "On behalf of the relatives of Nariman Dzhelyal who had been imprisoned by the Russian occupiers for 17 years and transferred to Siberia, the prize awarded by Šimon Pánek, the head of the human rights organisation People in Need, and Jan Lipavský, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Czechia, was received by lawyer Mykola Polozov."

Details: The memorial sign of the prize will be handed over for storage to the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatars. There it will be stored until it can be awarded directly to Dzhelyal after his liberation.

Chubarov has also expressed his gratitude to Nariman Dzhelyal as a "loyal son of the Crimean Tatar people, an honest and courageous citizen of Ukraine". He stated:

"All our efforts are directed at liberating our homeland, Crimea, from the Russian occupiers and all our fellow citizens, the prisoners of the Kremlin, as soon as possible."

Lawyer Mykola Polozov added that the prize created by one of the oldest Czech human rights organisations, People in Need, is awarded annually. Last year, Maksym Butkevych, Ukrainian human rights activist who is now held in Russian captivity, won this prize.

What is known about Nariman Dzhelyal’s imprisonment? Nariman Dzhelyal, one of the leaders of the Crimean Tatar national movement, was detained in Crimea at the beginning of September 2021. He and four more Crimean Tatars were accused of blowing up a section of a gas pipeline near the village of Perevalne, located between the cities of Simferopol and Yalta in occupied Crimea.

According to the line of enquiry of the Federal Security Service (FSB) of Russia, Dzhelyal was a mediator between Ukrainian spies who had organised the explosion and the Akhmetov brothers from Crimea who had allegedly executed it.

On 21 September 2023, the Higher Court of Crimea, controlled by Russia, sentenced Nariman Dzhelyal to 17 years of imprisonment in a maximum security colony.

At the end of October 2023, Dmytro Lubinets, Human Rights Commissioner of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, stated that Dzhelyal had not been in touch with his wife for several weeks. According to the reports of Lubinets, Dzhelyal was transferred to the city of Minusinsk in South Siberia. There is no information concerning his health condition.

Background: In September 2021, Ukrainska Pravda published the diary of captive Nariman Dzhelyal.

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