You're reading: Parubiy to Crimea inhabitants: We remember you, we will return you free life in your homeland

Some 74 years after the deportation of the Crimean Tatars, the Russian occupiers again launched repressions in Crimea, Verkhovna Rada Chairman Andriy Parubiy has said, and called on the Ukrainians to observe a minute of silence in tribute to the memory of the victims of the 1944 deportation.

“Dear compatriots, dear Crimean residents, we remember about you. We will liberate Crimea. And we will return you a free and happy life in the Motherland,” he said, opening the plenary session of the Ukrainian parliament on Friday.

Parubiy reminded that 74 years ago the USSR began repressions against the whole people, and during a day hundreds of thousands of Crimean Tatars’ families were forcibly evicted and deported from Crimea.

“Only with the proclamation of the independence of Ukraine the Crimean Tatars got the right to live freely and dignifiedly in the land of their ancestors in Crimea. But today the Russian invaders again launched terror and repressions against the Crimean Tatars and Ukrainians in Crimea,” he said.

At the same time, the speaker urged the Ukrainians to join the all-Ukrainian minute of silence at 12:00 on Friday to pay tribute to the victims of the 1944 genocide of the Crimean Tatar people.

He added that the Verkhovna Rada would also honor the memory of the deportees.

A picture shows Crimean protester holding the poster that reads “Freedom for political prisoners”, on Oct. 14, 2017 (Facebook/Crimean Solidarity)