EU calls on Russia to release Crimean Tatar Umerov

The EU Delegation to Ukraine called for the immediate release of Crimean Tatar Mejlis Deputy Head Ilmi Umerov and immediate medical treatment in an Aug. 27 statement that accused the Russian government of violating international human rights standards. Umerov was criminally charged in May with threatening Russia’s territorial integrity after he said in a television interview that Russia must be forced to return Crimea and Donbas. In August, Umerov was dispatched to a psychiatric hospital and ordered examined after falling ill during a court trial, drawing public outrage in Ukraine and comparisons to the Soviet era.     

On Aug. 28, the human rights committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe called for the Crimean court to cancel its ruling and release Umerov from the psychiatric hospital. Ukraine’s parliamentary foreign affairs committee sent an appeal on Aug. 26 to leading Western governments and NGOs to join the demand that the Russian government release Umerov.

“Umerov’s condition in recent days is critical and his daughter stated that her father can die at any moment,” said the appeal. “The use of repressive psychiatry against Umerov clearly goes against the European Convention to prevent inhumane torture or such that degrades dignity, by treatment or punishment.” The committee considers such actions as “Russia’s return to repressive psychiatry, politically motivated courts against dissidents, violations to fundamental human rights and dangerous propaganda based on Soviet models,” the appeal said.

Zenon Zawada: Umerov is becoming the new Nadiya Savchenko for Ukraine, or a persecuted figure that is drawing the world’s attention to ongoing Russian aggression in Ukraine. At 59 years old however, he doesn’t have Savchenko’s youth to withstand harsh conditions, or sex appeal to become a widely celebrated figure. While it’s possible Umerov can be removed from the psychiatric hospital, we are confident the Russian government wants to make an example of him and will sentence him to prison, with a possible maximum sentence of five years.