Crimean human rights activist fined for another person's post
The judge of the Kyiv District Court in Simferopol, Oksana Karchevska, fined the human rights activist Abdureşit Cepparov 45,000 rubles. He was accused of discrediting the Russian army for unknown persons' posts on the website of the media initiative "Qırım Gayesi", the Crimean Process reports.
The court questioned the law enforcer who opened the administrative case and found the human rights activist guilty.
The court also re-interrogated the first witness, who had complained of memory issues. He came to the meeting on his own, claimed to remember everything and provided additional evidence.
We remind you that Russian security forces have already searched the activist's house on March 16, 2023. At that time, no lawyer was allowed to see Cepparov. After the search, the Russian security forces took the man to the local police department. Later, the Russian-controlled Biloghirsk District Court arrested him for 15 days, accusing him of "promoting Nazi paraphernalia or symbols" on social media. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and the representative office of the President of Ukraine in Crimea called for Abdureşit Cepparov's release. On March 31, he was released after 15 days of administrative arrest.
On April 26, 2023, the occupiers' Bilohirsky District Court in Crimea unlawfully arrested the previously detained Crimean Tatar human rights activist Abdureşit Cepparov for 12 days for "disobeying the police." A day earlier, on April 25, the occupiers had searched the human rights activist's house.
On May 24, 2023, the Russian Center for Countering Extremism opened two more administrative law cases against the Crimean Tatar human rights activist Abdureşit Cepparov: for "discrediting the use of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation" (under Part 1 of Article 20.3.3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) and "abusing the freedom of mass information" (under Part 2 of Article 5 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation).
According to the CCE operative and police lieutenant Roman Filatov, who drew up the cases, Cepparov ran the page of the public movement Qirim Gayesi ("Crimean Idea") on the social network "Facebook" and spread "deliberately untrue socially significant information framed as reliable news" on it. In addition, according to the operative, the Crimean Tatar activist "expressed his disagreement with the actions of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation relating to the special military operation in Ukraine."
The posts in question are about the April 2023 events in Feodosia and the transfer of Ukrainian citizens, including children, to Crimea.
On June 13, 2023, the Crimean human rights organization "Qırım Gayesi" ("Crimean Idea") announced on Facebook that they were closing down due to the persecution of the human rights activist Abdureşit Cepparov by the Russian occupiers.
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