THE NATIONAL UNION OF
JOURNALISTS OF UKRAINE
Marlen (Suleyman) Asanov was born in the city of Bekabad, Uzbekistan, on March 2, 1977. In the 1980s, the family returned from deportation to Crimea. In 1994, Marlen graduated from the Holubynka secondary comprehensive school of the Bakhchysarai District. After graduating from school, he entered Tavriiskyi National University named after Vernadskyi, and graduated from it in 1999, majoring in philology and teacher of Turkish and Crimean Tatar language and literature. Marlen was an active participant in the life of the university: he participated in scientific student conferences and Olympiads in Turkish and Crimean Tatar languages. He had authority among fellow students and treated teachers with respect. On May 1, 1998, he graduated from the training center of the Krymtur Agency and received the third category of tour guide.
From 1999 to 2003, he worked as a teacher of the Crimean Tatar language and literature at the Holubynka secondary school. The young teacher tried to build lessons methodically and competently. In the lessons, he used visual teaching aids related to the history of the Crimean Tatars. He conducted open lessons, organized extracurricular activities, and participated in the regional methodical association of Crimean Tatar language teachers. In 2002, he participated in a pedagogical skills competition, where he won and received the Teacher Of The Year title.
In October 2002, Marlen got married. He and his wife, Ayshe, have four children. The Asanovs family is very friendly. The couple is very serious about raising their children taking care of their spiritual, moral, and physical development.
In order to show the guests of Crimea all the beauty, culture, traditions, and daily life of the Crimean Tatars, in 2000, Marlen received a certificate from the association for the promotion of rural green tourism in Crimea and became the director of the Kokkoz cultural and ethnographic center. He tried to record his love for history with a camera and dreamed of becoming a professional photographer. In 2014, he took a Section in the photo contest titled Bakhchysarai In The Camera Lens.
In 2002, Marlen Asanov founded the Salachyk caravanserai in Bakhchysarai. This is a Crimean Tatar cultural and ethnographic center consisting of a complex of architectural buildings designed for the accommodation and recreation of travelers and guests. Since ancient times, in caravanserais, people could rest, eat, regain their strength, learn information that interests them, and simply have a good time.
Marlen led a healthy lifestyle. He had no bad habits. He enjoyed respect among the residents of Bakhchysarai. He participated in the city’s public life held and organized festive events on the days of Muslim religious holidays – Kurban and Eid al-Fitr. He always extended a helping hand to those who needed it and never denied anything to anyone.
After his arrest, he was nominated for the Volunteer Award – 2017, organized by Euromaidan SOS. It aims to attract attention, popularize the extraordinary work and worthy deeds of ordinary people, and show society that we have a lot of such people and that everyone has the power to change the world for the better.
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Since 2014, Marlen Asanov has been helping families of political prisoners. Attended all court sessions on politically motivated cases. He published a video of searches on his YouTube channel.
The FSB searched the Salachyk caravanserai on May 12, 2016. On the same day, four local residents were detained in Bakhchysarai and accused of participating in Hizb-ut-Tahrir. At that time, Marlen Asanov was brought to administrative responsibility for “violation of public order” and sentenced to a fine of 5,000 rubles. This incident did not scare the businessman, and even, on the contrary, he became more actively involved in public activities and began to provide his cafe for meetings of Crimean Solidarity activists.
His turn came on October 12, 2017. Residents of Bakhchysarai Timur Ibragimov, Marlen Asanov, Memet Belyalov, Seyran Saliev, Server Zekiriyaiev, and Ernes Ametov were arrested. The FSB charged them with participation in a terrorist organization. Marlen Asanov was charged under Section 1 of Article 205.5 (“Organization of activities of a terrorist organization,” which provides for a penalty of up to life imprisonment), Section 1 of Article 30, and Article 278 of the Criminal Code of the russian federation (“Preparation for a violent seizure of power” (up to 10 years of imprisonment). Marlen Asanov has been in custody since October 11, 2017.
The Crimean Tatar caravanserai Salachyk temporarily stopped working on April 27 under the respective decision of the russian court. This is stated on the cafe’s Facebook page. “Since 2014, we have been informing you about systematic searches, inspections, and other measures carried out in relation to our cafe. All this led to the fact that, starting on April 27, 2018, by court decision at the request of the prosecutor of Bakhchysarai District O.B. Oshepkov forced us to temporarily close our cafe. The further fate of the Salachyk cafe will be decided in the courts.”
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According to the Graty publication reported with reference to lawyers, russian security forces kidnapped and took to russia nine residents of the temporarily occupied Crimea. Among them are seven activists of Crimea n Solidarity. These were Server Mustafaev, Marlen Asanov, Seyran Salieva, Server Zekiryaiev, Memet Belyalov, Timur Ibragimov and Edem Smailov. The russians took each of them to a separate region. The russians also kidnapped a pensioner, Valerii Goldenberg. She sprinkled blood on the grave of a russian soldier who died during a full-scale invasion. The ninth is activist Oleksandr Tarapanov. He pasted anti-war leaflets depicting a russian soldier he knew, a participant in the invasion. Tarapanov picked up the postcards near the military man’s residence.
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On September 16, 2020, Marlen and six other participants in the Hizb-ut-Tahrir case were sentenced to life terms. Asanov was sentenced to 19 years in a strict regime colony, Memet Belyalov – to 18 years, Timur Ibragimov – to 17 years, Seyran Saliyev – to 16 years, Server Mustafayev – to 14 years, Server Zekiriyaiev – to 13 years, and Edem Smailov – to a year in the colony.
Subsequently, as reported by the civil association Crimean Solidarity, Marlen Asanov, the suspect in the second Bakhchysarai case, Hizb ut-Tahrir, was transferred to the Strict Regime Correctional Colony 7 in Mordovia, located in the village of Sosnivka. Asanov‘s wife noted that she had no idea where her husband was for about a month. Only recently, Marlen Asanov was able to contact his wife and inform her that he was in IC-7 of Sosnivka in Mordovia.
“He usually doesn’t complain; he says that he accepts all trials with patience and thanks Allah for everything; he worries more about us,” Ayshe Asanova said.
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Journalist Mariya Semenchenko wrote on the Chytomo website and PEN-Ukraine: “Once Marlen Asanov had a dream: in a blooming valley surrounded by mountains, a beautiful caravanserai spread out – a place where travelers and merchants could once relax, eat delicious food, and spend a few hours among beauty Marlen decided to make the dream come true. He approached the matter seriously: everything had to be historically verified – from architecture and decoration to food and drinks. This is how the Crimean Tatar Caravanserai Salachyk appeared in Bakhchysarai. There, people came from around the world for traditional dishes and a special atmosphere. Marlen opened this ethnographic institution primarily in order to tell more about the history, culture, and traditions of the Crimean Tatar people. He wanted people to better understand the indigenous people of the peninsula. This is not his first such project: earlier, together with like-minded people, he founded a small ethnographic museum, and he himself developed and conducted the tour called Visiting The Crimean Tatars.”
“Marlen adored Salachyk, worried about it, and loved it like his own child. It was important for him to do everything as best as possible. When our grandparents were forcibly deported from Crimea in 1944, other peoples were told that they were deporting traitors, bad people. Marlen wanted to show the guests of Crimea that the Crimean Tatar people are beautiful, hospitable, kind, friendly. That we are peaceful people who do not wish harm to anyone, that we are always happy to have guests and are always ready to help,” said his wife, Ayshe.
At the entrance to Salachyk, Marlen placed an inscription: “You come to us as a good guest – and you will leave as a good friend!” He himself made coffee on the fire and told visitors about the history of the Crimean Tatar people. Very quickly people found out about his cafe not only in Crimea but also far beyond its borders. Once, in 2011, the famous American chef, writer, and TV presenter Anthony Bourdain even came here to film a new episode of his program specifically about Salachyk. And then, already in 2014, russia came to Crimea.
Soon, Salachyk came under the eyes of the occupation authorities and was shut down by court order in 2018. And in 2020, the occupation authorities sentenced Marlen Asanova to 19 years in a strict-regime prison on fabricated and absolutely absurd charges of terrorism.
The russian Memorial recognized him as a political prisoner. The coalition of human rights organizations of Ukraine recognized Marlen Asanov as a person deprived of liberty for political reasons. The European Federation of Journalists will refer the dossier on Crimean Tatar citizen journalists imprisoned by russia for international diplomatic control to the Council of Europe’s Specialized Platform for the Protection of Journalists. The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) joined the initiative of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU) calling for the immediate release of colleagues who are persecuted in occupied Crimea.
In his video message, the Secretary General of the EFJ, Ricardo Gutiérrez, called on the russian federation to immediately release the Crimean Tatar journalists. “I believe that today, more than ever before, it is necessary to promote strong solidarity with journalists persecuted by the russian authorities in Crimea. We consider our colleagues to be political prisoners. They are in jail just for doing their job in the public interest. Crimea has become a zone where international law and the rule of law are no longer respected,” Gutierrez said in his speech.
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Ayshe Asanova says that she and her husband were aware of all the risks of his active civic position and his activities as a citizen journalist, but the possibility of leaving Crimea to a safer place was out of the question. When someone from friends or relatives asked Marlen to be careful, to think about leaving the peninsula, Asanov always answered: “How can I leave my people? How can I live somewhere peacefully, knowing that my people are suffering?”
“He also prepared me, said that they could come after him and that I should be strong. But there is a big difference between when you talk about it, think about it, imagine it, and when it actually happens,” says Ayshe.
NUJU Information Service
The publication uses materials from the Crimean Solidarity NGO, the PEN-Ukraine website, the Krym.Realii website within the Radio Liberty project, the ZMINA Human Rights Center, the Memorial Society, and others. The NUJU Information Service expresses its profound gratitude to the colleagues for the opportunity kindly provided.
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