The judges on 25 June who confirmed horrific sentences against Emir-Usein Kuku, Crimean Tatar human rights activist and Amnesty International prisoner of conscience and five other Ukrainian political prisoners were almost certainly following directives ‘from above’. So too, however, were the Soviet NKVD who took part in executing so-called ‘enemies of the people’ during Stalin’s Terror. All the ‘judges’, prosecutors and investigators complicit in Russia’s persecution of Crimean Tatars and other Ukrainians must be held to account, and, until that happens, should at very least be subject to international sanctions.
Russia's War Against Ukraine
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Halya Coynash: Powerful address by Crimean Tatar human rights defender
A picture shows Crimean protester holding the poster that reads "Freedom for political prisoners", on Oct. 14, 2017.
