Where is Abdureshit Dzhepparov?

The Russian occupation authorities illegally imprisoned a well-known Crimean Tatar human rights defender, whose teenage son they kidnapped back in 2014. The boy's fate remains unknown

Photo: Krym.Realii

In Crimea, the occupiers kidnapped the well-known Crimean Tatar human rights defender Abdureshit Dzhepparov. This happened after a three-and-a-half-hour rummage by FSB investigators at his family's home in the city of Karasubazar (Biloghirsk). At dawn, security forces with machine guns broke into the house where 63-year-old Dzhepparov, his wife, and their 14-year-old daughter were staying. The occupiers immediately seized all telephones and electronic devices, so the family had no opportunity to call lawyers for help.

According to Niyara Dzhepparova, her husband's Ukrainian passport, video surveillance cameras, and even the Order of Merit III degree, which Abdureshit Dzhepparov received from the Representation of the President of Ukraine in Crimea, were taken from him.

After the search, the human rights defender was taken in an unknown direction.

Photo: Crimean Solidarity 

During the day, there was no information about the location of Dzhepparov. The occupation police covered up the fact of the kidnapping. The lawyer Edem Semedlyaev and a group of activists searched for Dzhepparov all over Crimea, and only at night, they found out that he was in the isolation cell of one of the Simferopol police district departments. According to Semedlyayev, the occupiers' Biloghirskyi court ordered Dzhepparov to be arrested for 12 days, allegedly for disobeying the police. The hearing was "quick and dirty" - immediately after the rummage, without any notice, and in the absence of the defense.

The "resolution" refers to the "act of resistance" of the Crimean Tatar human rights defender to Ruslan Shambazov, head of the department of the Center for Countering Extremism, Crimean Solidarity reports.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi has already reacted to the kidnapping of Abdureshit Dzhepparov.

"Today, the occupiers broke into the house of Abdureshit Dzhepparov, who is one of the representatives of the Crimean Tatar national movement, a human rights defender, a citizen of Ukraine... This is another example of Russian repression against the indigenous people of Crimea, against all our people," the president said.

Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets also mentioned Dzhepparov, recalling that Russia currently holds about 180 political prisoners from Crimea for politically motivated cases.

"The international community should step up efforts to put pressure on the Russian Federation to release all Ukrainian citizens illegally detained by it," wrote the human rights commissioner of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine.

This is the second arrest of Dzhepparov in the last year. In March of last year, he was detained by the occupiers, the workers of the Center for Countering Extremism. At that time, the reason for the illegal rummage and arrest was called "the spread of Nazi symbols in social networks."

  Abdureshit Dzhepparov together with the former political prisoner Kazim Ametov

Abdureshit Dzhepparov is a well-known public figure in Crimea. Before the occupation of the peninsula, he was actively involved in Crimean Tatar political life. He was the founder and leader of the Party of National Action. Six months after Russia's invasion of Crimea, Abdureshit Dzhepparovʼs 17-year-old son and 22-year-old nephew were kidnapped at the same time. In September 2014, Islyam andDzhevdet Dzhepparov were walking down the street when a minibus drove up to them, and several men in black uniforms without identification marks dragged the boys inside. Since then, nothing is known about them.

    On the left: son, Islam Dzhepparov; on the right: nephew,Dzhevdet Dzhepparov

After the disappearance of his son, Abdureshit Dzhepparov, together with other concerned compatriots, initiated the creation of the Crimean Contact Group on Human Rights. The association of human rights defenders started searching for dozens of Crimean Tatars who went missing since the beginning of the occupation of the peninsula. The now well-known activist Emir-Usein Kuku, who was accused of terrorist activities by the Russian authorities 2 years later, joined the organization. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch recognized him as a political prisoner, and his name appears in many resolutions of the UN General Assembly calling for the immediate release of the prisoner of conscience.

Emir-Usein Kuku, photo: Crimean Solidarity