Russia has released two Ukrainian political prisoners, Crimean Tatars Ilmi Umerov and Akhtem Chiygoz, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko wrote on Twitter on Oct. 24.
Poroshenko also said that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan helped to free Umerov and Chiygoz, but didn’t disclose any other details.
Poroshenko said that he had asked Erdoğan to help to release Russian political prisoners during the 72nd session of the UN General Assembly in September, and again during Erdoğan’s visit to Ukraine earlier in October.
The release of Umerov and Chiygoz was also confirmed by Alim Aliev, the co-founder of the Crimea-SOS non-profit organization, who said that both of the men are now headed to the Turkish capital Ankara.
Chiygoz, 52, was sentenced to eight years in prison by a Russian court in Russian-occupied Crimea for organizing protests. He was arrested by Russian authorities in January 2015 for taking part in a protest in 2014 while the peninsula was still under Ukrainian control.
Umerov, 59, who is also the deputy head of the Mejlis, a Crimean Tatar representative body now banned by Russia, was convicted to two years in prison for allegedly making public calls for the violation of the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation.
Umerov was prosecuted for statements he made in an interview with Crimean Tatar television channel ATR in March 2015. He said that Ukraine, as well as its Western partners, should intensify the sanctions against Russia so that Russia will have to leave Crimea and Ukraine’s eastern regions voluntarily. The Russian authorities then claimed Umerov was calling for separatism and violence.
Both Umerov and Chiygoz are key figures in the Mejelis.
Nikolai Polozov, the lawyer of Umerov and Chiygoz, said that the charges against them had been dropped, but added that they hadn’t submitted any requests for pardons or signed any documents asking for their release.
Polozov also said that both men headed first to Simferopol, and then to the Russian city of Krasnodar, and afterwards to Ankara. He said that the reason for the complicated route might be that Erdoğan’s representatives didn’t want to enter Crimea for political reasons. At the same time, he added that he doesn’t know any details of the negotiations between Erdoğan and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Polozov is also not aware of any restrictions on Umerov and Chiygoz returning home to Crimea.
Since the Russian military invasion and occupation of Crimea, human rights organizations have documented at least 355 cases of human rights violations, including kidnappings, searches of offices and apartments, arrests, and criminal cases being brought on bogus charges.
More than 40 Ukrainian citizens arrested in Russia and Russian-occupied Crimea who are now detained in Russia have been declared political prisoners by international watchdogs and the European Parliament.
