On Wednesday 15 March, several members of Crimea's Tatar community spoke about their difficult living conditions in Crimea and called on the EU for help.
During a press conference organised by the ECR Group, Umar Ibrahimov, whose son is reported as missing, said that before he was kidnapped by the Russian road police, his son, who is a political leader, had been threatened. "I call on you, if you can, to help him", he said, adding that there were numerous people like his son in Crimea.
Bekir Dehermendzhi also told the story of his son, who was arrested for peacefully protesting for Ukraine's territorial integrity and who has now been in prison for nearly two years.
"In three years of Russian presence, we have seen a huge number of human rights violations ", the lawyer and human rights activist Emil Kurbedinov stated, who himself spent ten days in administrative detention at the start of the year. "There is a fight against all opinions which diverge", he said, adding that the Russians were using legislation against terrorism and illegal gatherings, and that this is extensive. In his view, there is no investigation into human rights violations. "For the Russians, it would be ideal if the Tatars left the country", he said.
The European Parliament is due to adopt a resolution on Thursday 16 March on Ukrainian political prisoners in Russia and the situation in Crimea. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)