EU condemns Russia’s banning of Crimean Tatars’ assembly

Russian authorities in Crimea decided on 13 April 2016 to ban the Mejlis, a decision-making assembly of the Crimean Tatar minority living in the peninsula. The Crimean peninsula was annexed by Russia in March 2014.

Crimea's prosecutor Natalia Ponklonskaya said she had decided to 'halt the activities of the Mejlis' because its goals were 'extremist activity' and 'destabilisation'.

This organisation represented the Crimean Tatars, a Muslim people native to Crimea who were deported under Stalin and only returned to the peninsula in the 1990s, since it was founded in 1991.

Several international stakeholders, including the European Union and the Council of Europe, condemned the decision.

• Primary Source

ESO: Background information: Crimea - a year in Russian hands http://www.europeansources.info/record/crimea-a-year-in-russian-hands/

The Moscow Times, 13.04.16: Prosecutor Suspends Activities of Crimean Tatar Parliament http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/prosecutor-suspends-activities-of-crimean-tatar-parliament/565748.html

Council of Europe: News, 14.04.16: Secretary General Jagland: statement on the decision by the Prosecutor in Crimea to suspend the Mejlis http://www.coe.int/en/web/portal/-/secretary-general-jagland-statement-on-the-decision-by-the-prosecutor-in-crimea-to-suspend-the-mejlis

EU: EEAS: Statement, 14.04.16: Statement by the Spokesperson on suspension of Mejlis activities of the Crimean Tatars http://www.eeas.europa.eu/statements-eeas/2016/160414_07_en.htm

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