A 24-year-old Crimean Tatar has been sentenced by a ‘court’ in occupied Crimea to 10.5 years’ imprisonment for supposed involvement in mainland Ukraine in the Asker (or Noman Çelebicihan) Battalion. Very little is known of this latest victim of Russia’s mounting attempts to demonize a volunteer battalion which is legal in Ukraine and not engaged in any combat. It is, however, telling that the Russian-controlled reports of this sentence, passed on January 23, used identical video footage to that shown in reporting another alleged arrest of a ‘battalion member’ on that very same day. Given that the Russian FSB is particularly fond of extracting videoed ‘confessions’ for Russian television, it seems highly suspicious that neither of these two men’s faces have been shown, and the video shots from behind look like they are of a person who is considerably older than 24.
Russia's War Against Ukraine
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Halya Coynash: Russia sentences Crimean to 10 years for alleged involvement in ‘Ukrainian battalion’
(FILES) Russian Special forces soldiers block an area as they raided an apartment building in Saint Petersburg in an operation targeting North Caucasus militants, reportedly killing two suspects, on August 17, 2016.
