Russia has seized another Ukrainian political prisoner in occupied Crimea, bringing to at least five the number of new hostages since the only major exchange of prisoners to date, in September 2019. While the FSB are revealing virtually no details, it is clear that the 61-year-old Crimean Tatar can be considered a political prisoner, as he is charged with being a member of the Noman Çelebicihan (or Asker) Battalion, which is legal in Ukraine and, despite the name, not an armed formation. Russia has banned it, and systematically tries to demonize it, including through arrests of Crimean Tatars who, according to its founder, Crimean Tatar businessman Lenur Islyamov, do not have any involvement in the battalion.
OP-ED
Halya Coynash: Russia arrests 61-year-old Crimean Tatar
Crimean Tatars flag waves at the ceremony commemorating the victims of the 1944 deportation of the indigenous people of Crimea, the Crimean Tatars, at Sofiyivska Square in Kyiv on May 18, 2018.
