Crimean Tatar missing in Crimea arrested by security forces

The FSB detained and interrogated the Crimean Tatar Eldar Mensitov all night, and the next day he was arrested for 15 days for disobeying the police. However, according to his lawyer, he was not even on the street where Mensitov allegedly resisted law enforcement officers. The 53-year-old man is a former member of the Simferopol Regional Mejlis of the Crimean Tatars.

On September 8, 2021, Mensitov’s house was searched in connection with the case of Crimean Tatar politician and journalist Nariman Dzhelal and the Akhtemov brothers. Then the FSB officers said that they were checking the version of Mensitov's involvement in the explosion of the gas pipeline in Perevalnoye. On June 18, 2021, he testified in court as a defense witness in the case of the deputy of the Verkhovna Rada, the leader of the Crimean Tatar movement of Ukraine, Mustafa Dzhemilev, who was tried in absentia in Crimea.

The Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people has been banned on the territory of the Russian Federation since 2016. He is included in the list of extremist structures, despite the demands of international organizations to cancel this decision.

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