A Russian court on April 13 reacted to the coronavirus pandemic by postponing court hearings in the trial of eight Crimean Tatar civic activists until May. It ignored the acute danger of infection by extending all the men’s detention to 13 August. This was at the demand of prosecutor Yevgeny Kolpikov who said that “the reasons why the defendants are in detention have not changed”. There was an element of truth in this, since there were never any grounds for holding the men in custody, and there remain none. The eight are among over 50 Crimean Tatars and other Ukrainians held in SIZO [remand prisons] on charges that pertain solely to their faith and civic activism. Some of them have grave medical problems and are, therefore, in particular danger from Covid-19, especially Dzhemil Gafarov, however, the appalling conditions of detention mean that Russia is risking all the men’s lives.
Russia's War Against Ukraine
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(FILES) In this file photo taken on March 5, 2014, Pro-Russian activists stand behind a Russian flag during their rally in the western Crimean city of Yevpatoria.
