Nariman Celal is free! The politician and journalist is joining the fight to free our captives

As announced by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy late in the evening on Friday, June 28, 2024, ten more Ukrainians were released from russian captivity. Among them was Nariman Celal (Dzhelialov), the first deputy chairperson of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people and a journalist, whose release was also sought by the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine (NUJU).

“We’ve managed to return ten more of our people from russian captivity. Despite all the difficulties. Nariman Celal, a deputy chairperson of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people who was captured in Crimea as early as 2021, is among them…,” the President wrote on Telegram. He also noted, without elaborating, “the Vatican’s efforts to bring these people home.” Nariman Celal was released from prison in Minusynsk, Krasnoyarsk Krai.

As earlier reported, on September 21, 2022, the russian-controlled Supreme Court of Crimea sentenced Nariman Celal to 17 years of imprisonment in a high-security prison with a fine of RUB 700,000 and a 1.5-year restriction of liberty on the trumped-up charge of “organizing the gas pipeline blow-up.” Citizen journalists involved in the same case as Celal, namely Asan Akhtemov, were sentenced to 15 years in a strict regime prison with a fine of RUB 500,000 and 1 year of probation. Aziz Akhtemov was sentenced to 13 years in a penal colony with a fine of RUB 500,000 and 1 year of probation. On October 2, 2023, Nariman Celal and the Akhtemov brothers were transferred from Remand Prison-2 in Simferopol to prisons in russia. Aziz and Asan Akhtemov are Crimean Tatar activists. They were detained on September 3 and 4, 2021, on suspicion of blowing up a gas pipeline in the village of Perevalne. They have also been repeatedly reported by the NUJU Information Service. Currently, they are still in custody.

On September 22, the charges against Nariman Celal were increased, reclassifying him to sabotage as part of an organized group. In addition, he was charged with the illegal acquisition, transfer, and storage of explosives as part of an organized group. On November 8, during investigative actions in Simferopol, the FSB additionally accused Mejlis Deputy Chairperson Nariman Celal and the Akhtemov brothers of “smuggling of explosives by an organized group across the customs border.”

In fact, Nariman Celal was arrested and sentenced by the russian authorities for the participation of the First Deputy Chairman of the Mejlis in the first summit of the Crimean Platform in Kyiv.

The Chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People, Refat Chubarov, and the Internet newsletter of the Crimean Solidarity non-governmental organization also reported on the release of Nariman Celal late on Friday evening. Currently, Nariman Celal is in the territory of Ukraine.

Immediately after his release, Nariman Celal announced his readiness to participate in the process of releasing Ukrainian prisoners of the Kremlin. He stated this upon arriving in Ukraine after being released from russian imprisonment as a result of the exchange.

“I am personally ready to join from now on to bring them home as soon as possible,” Celal said.

According to him, there are still “many wonderful, open, patriotic boys and girls waiting for release” in russian captivity and imprisonment.

Celal thanked everyone who met him and said that he was very happy to “find himself in his native land.”

The Representation of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea welcomed the return to Ukraine of the First Deputy Chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people and a citizen journalist, Nariman Celal, convicted by russia.

“This is a significant event for the Day of the Crimean Tatar Flag and the Day of the Constitution of Ukraine – for the Representation of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea/the Office of the Crimean Platform, which at their level actively supported the release of Nariman, as well as for the Crimean Tatar people and Crimea as a whole,” the representative office said. There, they expressed their gratitude to the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and everyone who put effort into the process of negotiations and the release of Celal.

The NUJU joins in congratulating citizen journalist Nariman Celal on the occasion of his release from russian captivity and declares that the efforts of the political elite and the public of Ukraine to release Ukrainian patriots are not in vain; they bring results, and we believe that in some time, all the prisoners of the Kremlin will be released. The russian politicians and lawyers, who were responsible for the russian falsified trial against the patriots of Ukraine, will be convicted.

NUJU Information Service