CrimeaSOS: the case of Rustem Osmanov is an illustration of the unprecedented number of crimes committed by the occupiers

The occupiers violated a number of norms of international law in relation to Rustem Osmanov, a Crimean Tatar from the Kherson region. CrimeaSOS analyst Yevhenii Yaroshenko told us about it. 

“The case of Rustem Osmanov who was sentenced to 6 years for allegedly participating in the Çelebicihan battalion, is an illustration of the unprecedented number of crimes committed by the occupiers. His detention has signs of enforced disappearance”, – said Yevhenii Yaroshenko.

The occupiers abducted Rustem Osmanov on April 14, 2022 in the village of Kalanchak, in the Kherson region. He was beaten, then taken to the direction of Crimea. At the administrative border, the man was taken into a wagon, where false testimony about his alleged membership in the battalion named after Noman Çelebicihan was beaten out of him. The secret service employees threatened to kill Rustem and his family if he did not say what they needed. Fearing for the lives of his relatives, he was forced to slander himself. 

The so-called “Bilohirsk district court” sentenced Rustem Osmanov to 6 years of imprisonment for alleged participation in the Crimean Tatar battalion named after Noman Çelebicihan. He is currently in a colony in the russian city of Ulianovsk. According to his wife, the colony management forces Rustem to accept russian citizenship and join the ranks of the russian army to fight against Ukraine. 

“Imposing russian citizenship on Rustem Osmanov violates fundamental human rights. Moreover, recruiting him to participate in the war against Ukraine is a war crime”, – Yevhenii Yaroshenko added.

Earlier, Yevhenii Yaroshenko told QIRIM.News in a comment that the russian occupation authorities use the case of the Noman Çelebicihan battalion as a “universal” article to persecute disloyal Crimean Tatars.