“At the presentation of the book by Crimean Tatar journalist Osman Arifmemetov called My Deportation, there was a special atmosphere. This is what happens when people united by common experience meet,” says Lina Kushch, the First Secretary of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU).
Since 2015, the media worker had documented the persecution of Crimean Tatars in occupied Crimea. In 2022, he was sentenced to 14 years in a penal colony. He is currently serving his sentence 5,000 kilometers from home — in Minusinsk prison. He has been describing his experience of life behind bars for years and sending censored excerpts from the pre-trial detention center and the penal colony. The publication was presented at the SENS bookstore in the capital.
According to the First Secretary, the book serves as a powerful symbol of support for all political prisoners.
“This evening, the most common request in the hall was to see the announcement of an autograph session as soon as possible, where Osman will personally sign copies of the book,” she wrote.
NUJU Information Service
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