CrimeaSOS: at least 18 people were convicted in the “case of the Noman Çelebicihan battalion”
2 / 06 / 2023
Since the beginning of russia’s occupation of Crimea, at least 18 people have been sentenced for allegedly participating in the Noman Çelebicihan battalion. Four of them – in 2023.
On June 1, 2023, the occupation “Kirovsky District Court” in Crimea sentenced a resident of the peninsula to two years of imprisonment. He is accused of allegedly participating in the Noman Çelebicihan battalion. According to the occupation law enforcement agencies, the man allegedly joined the battalion in 2016 and was responsible for ensuring its activities. The name and surname of the convict are not disclosed.
On April 24, 2023, the so-called “Kyiv District Court of Simferopol” sentenced a resident of Crimea to 4 years of imprisonment. Again – in the “case of the Noman Çelebicihan battalion”. According to the available information of the occupation law enforcement agencies, the accused also allegedly joined the ranks of the battalion in 2016.
On March 2, 2023, the russian-controlled “Dzhankoi District Court” sentenced a citizen of Ukraine to 5 years behind bars. According to data from open sources, the case concerns Ihor Khalilov, who was detained in Henichesk in July 2022 and illegally taken to Crimea.
According to CrimeaSOS analyst Yevhenii Yaroshenko, the russian occupation authorities use the “case of the Noman Çelebicihan battalion” as a “universal” article to persecute disloyal Crimean Tatars.
“Accusation of involvement in the Noman Çelebicihan battalion allows to cover wider categories of Crimean Tatars. In the case of a battalion, much less evidence is needed”, — says Yevhenii Yaroshenko.
On February 17, 2023, the occupation “Dzhankoi District Court” announced the sentence to Oleksii Kyseliov – 8 years and 6 months of imprisonment. On July 22, 2022, the occupiers abducted the former officer of the Naval Forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Oleksii Kyseliov, in the city of Henichesk, Kherson region, and took him to Crimea. He was accused of allegedly being involved in the Noman Çelebicihan battalion. In order to obtain a confession, russian “law enforcement officers” tortured Kyseliov with electric currents and beat them.
The Noman Çelebicihan battalion is a voluntary Crimean Tatar armed formation, which was created in early 2016 during the blockade on the administrative border with the occupied Crimea. The battalion is named after Noman Çelebicihan, a Crimean Tatar politician and public figure, the first head of the government of the Crimean People’s Republic, the organizer of the First Qurultay of the Crimean Tatar people, the first Mufti of the Muslims of Crimea, Lithuania, Poland, and Belarus. On June 1, 2022, the supreme court of the russian federation recognized the “Crimean Tatar Volunteer Battalion named after Noman Çelebicihan” a terrorist organization.