2 Crimean Tatar Women Detained in Russia-Occupied Peninsula

30 May 2019 16:28

Activists Lutfie Zudieva (L) and Mumine Saliyeva (R) were detained by Russian law enforcement in occupied Crimea on May 30.Courtesy

Activists Mumine Saliyeva and Lutfie Zudieva were both detained in Russia—annexed Crimea on May 30.

Activists Mumine Saliyeva and Lutfie Zudieva were detained in Russia-annexed Crimea on May 30. Civic organization Crimean Solidarity reported Zudieva's detention around 2 p.m. Kyiv time. Saliyeva's detention was reported just mere hours after.

Zudieva worked for the Crimean Solidarity. She is accused by Russian law enforcement of "propaganda or public demonstration of Nazi or extremist symbols prohibited by the law." The woman was leaving a market in the town of Dzhankoi when she was approached by the law enforcers and taken to the Center for Countering Extremism in Simferopol.

Saliyeva worked as a tour guide in the city of Bakhchisaray before she turned into activist following her husband's – Seyran Saliyev's – and other Crimean Tatars' arrests on the peninsula. Saliyeva featured in Hromadske's story "Separated: Life for Family Members of Political Prisoners From Crimea."

According to RFE/RL's project Krym.Realii, Russian authorities accuse Saliyeva of the same crime as Zudieva – "propaganda or public demonstration of Nazi or extremist symbols prohibited by the law."

Saliyeva has four children under 18 years of age with her husband Seyran who was arrested in October.

Hromadske previously reported that there are 56 Muslims arrested by Russia because of their faith (the so-called Hizb ut-Tahrir and Mejlis cases). Adding to that the 24 Ukrainian sailors who were captured near the Kerch Strait last November, this makes the overall number of Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars arrested by Russian authorities since the annexation 101.