Abuse of Freedom: Editor-in-chief of newspaper “Qirim” fined for publishing a UN report that mentioned Mejlis

This information comes from “Crimean Solidarity.” 

Mamutov faced an accusation of “abuse of the freedom of media” after his newspaper published a report by the UN Secretary-General on October 14, 2020. The report was titled “Situation of human rights in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, Ukraine.” This report mentioned the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people. 

The occupying authority claims that the mention of Mejlis in publications by Qirim without saying that this organization is forbidden is not permitted.  

The legal defender Khatidzhe Mamut believes that republishing an official document by a UN official that is available in open sources is legal. This kind of publication relieves the editors and journalists of responsibility. 

“The law itself does not explain how this legal requirement functions, in which way it is necessary to mark [that the organization is forbidden – ed.]. We spent a lot of time debating this, but Roskomnadzor [Federal Service for Supervision in the Sphere of Telecom, Information Technologies and Mass Communications – ed.] believes that we probably had to make editorial notes next to Gutteres’ [UN Secretary-General – ed.] words, this is their opinion. To be honest, the level of preparation of the Roskomnadzor employee, who was a witness in the case, astonished me. With all the ways they appeal to different norms, references to laws, it became clear that their situation is desperate, and they understand how this accusation has no evidence.” – said Khatidzhe Mamut. 

As we informed earlier, in 2016, Russian authorities recognized Crimean Tatar Mejlis as an extremist organization. Accordingly, they banned it in Russia and the occupied Crimea.