Simferopol - Russian law enforcers searched the office of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatars for 11 hours, finishing late on Tuesday, according to Riza Shevkiev, a Mejlis member and the director general of the Crimea Foundation charitable organization.
‘Documents, computers as well as the personal belongings and money of Mustafa Jemilev (Cemilev), the MP and former Chairman of the Mejlis, were confiscated,’ Shevkiev said, speaking to the Crimea. Realities Internet publication.
Shevkiev said that protocols of some Mejlis meetings, five or six religious books, Jemilev’s personal belongings, which were taken from his personal safe by breaking into it, had been confiscated during the search. Jemilev’s money and traumatic handgun were confiscated from the safe. Six processors and computer hard drives were also confiscated during the search.
‘They read a search warrant in front of witnesses. According to it, they came to conduct a search in the Mejlis office due to the events on May 3, when our people went to meet Mustafa Jemilev. There were 15-20 of them in the building; they searched very carefully. They started with the second floor, and then went upstairs. Then they went downstairs and also searched the Avdet editorial office and the offices of the Crimea Foundation,’ Shevkiev said.
According to him, the search warrant had neither a reference number nor a seal. There was only the signature of ‘Senior Lieutenant of Justice Shmelev.’
‘Apart from this signature, there were no other indications that the search was legal. I think this warrant wasn’t properly formalized in the structures where those people came from. By the way, on where those people came from, I can only judge by the protocol, a copy of which they left me,’ Shevkiev said.
He emphasized that despite the fact that the search warrant had been issued for the Mejlis, the Avdet editorial office and Crimea Foundation had also been searched. He said this was an outrageous violation of the law. Shevkiev said he believes that a lawsuit should be filed in court in response to the illegal search. However, he said doubted the court’s judgments would be fair.
As reported, the accommodations of some Mejlis members were searched on September 16 as well. In the result, computers and books were confiscated to be examined. On the same day, employees of Russian police and Federal Security Service searched the Mejlis office.
