Jailed Crimean Tatar activist Marlen Mustafaev has finally been released, 6 days after the 10 friends and neighbours imprisoned for standing outside his home in solidarity with the detained activist and reporting on the search underway. The mass detentions on Feb 21 and absurd sentences upheld at farcical court hearings marked a new, disturbing escalation in Russian attempts to quash any independent thinking and resistance to terror tactics in occupied Crimea.
Judging by the welcome given to Mustafaev and, earlier, the other men, resistance remains strong, but nobody is in any doubt that the events on Feb 21 were about intimidation.
