The trial of the Head of the Mejlis Refat Chubarov or representative assembly of the Crimean Tatar people is ending in Crimea.
What remains unclear – is why Russia chose to stage a near-exact remake of its internationally condemned trial of Chubarov’s deputy, Akhtem Chiygoz. The circumstances around that trial, as well as details it brought to light about Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, were already incriminating enough. The remake is even worse since another grotesque charge has been added, linked solely to Chubarov’s expressed opposition to Russian occupation. It has, moreover, been running in parallel to an equally surreal trial of world-renowned Crimean Tatar leader Mustafa Dzhemilev.
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Halya Coynash: Russia remakes trial of Crimean Tatar Mejlis leader
A picture shows Head of the Mejlis
Refat Chubarov speaks as he attends a rally to commemorate 72 years since Crimean Tatar deportation on Maidan Nezalezhnosti on May 18, 2016.
