Eskender Nebiev, a cameraman for Crimea’s ATR TV station, was detained by Russian occupation authorities in Ukraine’s Crimea on Monday on accusations of his involvement in “mass disorder” in Simferopol on February, 26, 2014 - even before Russia annexed the peninsula.
With Nebiev detained and his house searched, a Simferopol court will most likely announce on Wednesday its decision on the pre-trial detention of the cameraman, who is of Crimean Tatar origin, Ukraine Today reports.
The pressure on local mass media in Crimea and on Crimean Tatar activists by law enforcement has intensified recently as the world’s only Crimean Tatar TV channel recently went off the air after a Russian broadcast regulator refused to renew its license, while other detentions have also taken place in Crimea in regard to events that took place before annexation, meaning they should fall under Ukrainian law. Among the detained is Akhtem Chiygoz, Deputy Chairman of the Mejlis, the Crimean Tatar parliament.
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