Crimean Parliament intends to revoke accreditation of journalist of Crimean Tatar TV channel ATR Shevket Namatullayev for ignoring Russian anthem

A group of Crimean MPs wants to revoke the accreditation of the correspondent of the TV channel ATR Shevket Namatullayev to the events held in the Crimean Parliament. The reason for such intention was the fact that the journalist did not stand up when the Russian anthem was playing. The letter about this was sent from the MP Yukhym Fiks to the director of ATR. According to this document, during the last parliamentary session, when the Russian anthem and the anthem of Crimea were playing, Shevket Namatullayev did not stand up and did not respond to remarks made by MPs. Fiks reminded that according to the effective legislation of the Russian Federation, during the official anthem everybody present is supposed to stand up, and men are supposed to take off their hats, and failure to abide by the law is punishable by administrative responsibility. Fiks also asked the ATR management to respond to this act by Namatullayev and talk to him about it.

 In his comment to Hromadske Radio, the journalist Shevket Namatullayev confirmed the incident took place and explained that as a citizen of Ukraine he had no intention to stand up to another country’s anthem.  

The pressure on journalists of the only Crimean Tatar TV channel has been growing recently, the channel’s editorial office reported: they have already received two warning about alleged extremism in connection with the coverage of peaceful gatherings of Crimean Tatars.