Brussels, 27/04/2016 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 26 April, the European Union called for the rights of the Crimean Tatars to be respected, following the decision of the Supreme Court of Crimea earlier in the day to describe the Tatars' assembly, the Mejlis, as an “extremist” organisation, and to ban its activities.
This decision is “a grave attack on the rights of the Crimean Tatars as a whole”, the spokesperson for High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini said in a press release. She added that this constitutes “a further very negative escalation in the human rights situation on the Crimean peninsula since its illegal annexation by the Russian Federation in 2014, including as regards the persecution of persons belonging to minorities”. “Full compliance with international human rights standards and other obligations under international law, notably in this case concerning the Crimean Tatar community, must be ensured without delay”, Mogherini's spokesperson stated. On 13 April, the spokesperson had already criticised the decision of the prosecutor of Crimea to suspend the activities of the Mejlis (see EUROPE 11533).
Similarly, the secretary general of the Council of Europe, Thorbjorn Jagland, called on “the relevant authorities to take the measures necessary to overturn” the decision of the Supreme Court quickly. He stated that the human rights delegation sent to Crimea by the Council of Europe had said in a report on 13 April that banning the Mejlis would the sign that a new level would be reached in the crackdown against the Tatars, and that describing it as a terrorist organisation “would considerably increase the risk of alienating the Tatar community still further” and of isolating it from the rest of the people of Crimea. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)