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Dozens of demonstrators on Sept. 17 clashed with police in front of the Prosecutor General’s Office to protest against the extradition of Timur Tumgoyev, a Russian-born soldier who has fought against Russia in the Donbas, to his home country.
The protesters blocked the entrance to the building of the Prosecutor General’s Office with a trash can, set the trash can on fire and then tried to storm the building.
Ukrainian authorities on Sept. 12 extradited Tumgoyev to Russia, prompting accusations that the Ukrainian government is cooperating with the Kremlin. The Prosecutor General’s Office argued that the extradition was legal and denied the accusations of wrongdoing.
Tumgoyev was extradited at the request of Russia’s Federal Security Service, which has routinely fabricated political cases to crack down on Kremlin critics. Russia claims that Tumgoyev also fought against Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria, and has charged him with fighting for illegal groups that oppose Russia’s interests and for alleged participation in a terrorist group.
“Without very hard evidence, caution seems warranted since Russia has brought charges under this very same article against the world-renowned veteran of the Crimean Tatar national movement and Ukrainian MP Mustafa Dzhemilev and the Head of the Crimean Tatar Mejlis (and MP) Refat Chubarov,” the Kharkiv Human Rights Group said in a statement. “Both men were first banned from their homeland after Russia’s invasion of Crimea, and now face criminal charges of such ‘activities running counter to Russian interests’. This was in fact pointed out by Chubarov who, back in 2017, interceded on behalf of Tumgoyev.”
Tumgoyev had also applied for asylum in Ukraine, saying that he was facing persecution in Russia for his religious beliefs.
“Ukraine’s State Migration Service ignored the huge weight of material presented on abductions, killings, torture and illegal imprisonment on political or religious grounds in the Northern Caucuses and turned down his application,” the Kharkiv Human Rights Group said. “This is not the first time in the last four years that the Security Service of Ukraine and state bodies following its instructions have continued to collaborate with Russia’s Federal Security Service. On this occasion, there are very real grounds for fearing that Tumgoyev will be immediately subjected to torture, not least because of his defense of Ukraine, and it defies belief that Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office would carry out such an extraordinary step.”
