As Crimean Tatar leaders Ilmi Umerov and Akhtem Chiygoz arrived in Kyiv on Friday afternoon, after being freed from a Russian prison in the occupied Crimea on Wednesday, the Director of Amnesty International Ukraine Oksana Pokalchuk made a statement.
"Prisoners of conscience Ilmi Umerov and Akhtem Chiygoz's release from prison this week was a positive step, but they now face the further injustice of having been expelled from their homeland. They must be allowed to return to Crimea and freely express their views without fear of being prosecuted," Pokalchuk said.
"It is increasingly clear that leaders of the Crimean Tatar community who dare to speak out against the Russian occupation and illegal annexation of the peninsula face two options: either exile or prison."
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Akhtem Chiygoz and Ilmi Umerov, the two deputy heads of the Crimean Tatar community's representative body barred by the Russian authorities as "extremist", the Mejlis, were sentenced respectively to eight and two years in jail in September this year, following two separate sham trials.
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The Crimean Tatar community and the Mejlis have been the main target of political persecution by the Russian authorities since the beginning of the occupation of Crimea.