The head of the Regional National and Cultural Autonomy of Crimean Tatars in the Republic of Crimea, Eyvaz Umerov, told Sputnik that it made sense for Russia to launch criminal proceedings against the leader of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People (outlawed in Russia as an extremist organization), Refat Chubarov, over his role in mass riots in Simferopol in 2014
SIMFEROPOL (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th March, 2020) The head of the Regional National and Cultural Autonomy of Crimean Tatars in the Republic of Crimea, Eyvaz Umerov, told Sputnik that it made sense for Russia to launch criminal proceedings against the leader of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People (outlawed in Russia as an extremist organization), Refat Chubarov, over his role in mass riots in Simferopol in 2014.
The Russian Investigative Committee said on Monday that a criminal case had been launched against Chubarov, on charges of organizing mass riots accompanied by violence. The event in question happened near the building of the State Council of Crimea on February 26, 2014.
"It seems logical to launch criminal proceedings against Refat Chubarov over the 2014 mass riots near the building of the State Council in Simferopol. Akhtem Chiygoz [Chubarov's deputy] was sentenced for participating and coordinating those riots. And everyone needs to understand that all the actions of the above mentioned persons were personally coordinated by [Ukrainian lawmaker] Mustafa Dzhemilev," Umerov said.
According to him, Chiygoz and Chubarov merely perpetrated the act, whereas Dzhemilev "personally orchestrated all of them." As such, Umerov said that it was, in fact, Dzhemilev, who was the most responsible for the riots and therefore should be the main defendant in the case.
On February 26, 2014, a couple of weeks before a referendum on reunifying with Russia was held in Crimea, a rally of supporters and opponents of a coup in Kiev was held near the Crimean State Council in Simferopol. Clashes between the two groups of protesters resulted in 35 people being injured. One man died of a heart attack during the confrontation, and a woman died in a hospital from injuries she received.
