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Human rights defender and civil journalist Server Mustafayev, sentenced to 14 years in prison, was visited by his family in the Russian colony in Tambov Oblast. This is their second long meeting in 5 years of his captivity, reports the Crimean Solidarity non-governmental organization. The civil journalist in captivity was visited by his parents — Rustem and Venera, his wife Maye, and two children. To reach Tambov, they traveled by train for 20 hours and covered a distance of 1,500 kilometers.
Server Mustafayev is the coordinator of Crimean Solidarity, whose activities are aimed at providing legal, informational, and social assistance to the families of political prisoners in Crimea and are a reaction to the response of the Crimean Tatar people to the systemic repressions in Crimea. The National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU) has repeatedly published materials about the case of Server Mustafayev and other civil journalists from Crimea.
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His wife, Maye Mustafayeva, talked about her daughter’s preparations for the date. “Every day, Dzhemile counted the days until she would meet her father, crossing days in the calendar day after day. Going on the road, I took the most beautiful dress with a scarf for the meeting.”
“The children couldn’t wait, ran out to the corridor, and listened to every sound. Hearing a familiar voice, they ran out to meet the Server. Server hugged them and could not believe that he already had such grown-up children next to him. When he was taken away, they were six and seven years old. Yunus was finishing the first grade, and Dzhemile was still in kindergarten. And it’s already been five years since I was separated from my father,” the political prisoner’s wife said.
The family arrived at the colony before 8 a.m. to join the queue. They received them at lunch, and after checking, they were allowed to go to the meeting room.
Server Mustafayev told the family about the daily routine. In a colony in the Tambov Oblast, the Crimean Tatar has to get up at 6 a.m., then has breakfast and take part in a mandatory line-up. He has to go to work from 8 a.m. Sometimes there is pork for lunch and dinner, which he refuses for religious reasons. During the day, he works until 7 p.m. By 8, he returns to the barracks.
“Server was interested in all the news. For him, news from freedom is a breath of fresh air. He is used to always being with his people, being useful and needed by everyone, and therefore it is tough for him that now he is far from everyone. He receives letters from Crimea. And every letter, a child’s drawing, is a message of freedom that inspires, brings joy, and helps overcome trials. He says that, despite everything, our people are united and continue their struggle,” Maye Mustafayeva added.
Since 2014, Server Mustafayev has been systematically monitoring the situation in Crimea and covering politically motivated courts. On May 21, 2018, after searches, security forces arrested Server Mustafayev and Edem Smayilov.
On September 16, 2020, a Crimean Muslim was sentenced to 14 years in prison at the Southern District Military Court in Rostov-on-Don.
On March 14, the Appellate Military Court in the town of Vlasikha near Moscow almost completely refused the defense to satisfy the complaints; more than 45 court hearings were held in the case.
From January 2015, politically motivated criminal cases against the Hizb ut-Tahrir party began to be initiated in Crimea. In Ukraine, the party’s activities are not prohibited; the organization’s activists published a newspaper, could speak openly in the mass media, and hold mass public events.
According to human rights defenders, the members of the organization are not being persecuted for “coup preparation” and “terrorism” but for public actions of party supporters against political repressions in Crimea, systematic criticism of the Russian authorities, and mass disloyalty among Crimean Tatars in response to the events of 2014.
NUJU information service
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