Paul
Goble
Staunton, October 3 – The conviction
of Fauziya Bayramova, president of the Volga Tatar Milli Mejlis and a longtime
activist for the Tatar nation, for her support of the Crimean Tatars as well as
her suspended one-year sentence is attracting widespread attention in the Russian
Federation and in Ukraine.
Yesterday, a city court in
Naberezhny Chelny found Bayramova, 64, guilty of inciting ethnic and religious
hatred for her Facebook postings in February 2014 in defense of the Crimean
Tatars and sentenced her to one year in prison, with the sentence suspended on
good behavior.
That she got positive coverage from
her fellow Tatar nationalists is no surprise, but the Kazan evening paper gave
her remarkably upbeat coverage yesterday in an article entitled “’The
Grandmother of Tatar Sovereignty’ Again Receives a Sentence of One Year
Conditionally” (evening-kazan.ru/articles/babushka-tatarskogo-suvereniteta-snova-poluchila-god-uslovno.html).
The paper quoted her saying that her
article expressed the view that “Crimean Tatars and Ukrainians should be
together and had not denigrated citizens of Russian nationality because there
was no mention about the Russian people in this essay.” Under questioning,
Bayramova said she “considers her position correct to this day.”
And she posted her final statement
to the court, which included many portions of the article for which she was
convicted, on Facebook. It merits more
extension quotation (facebook.com/fauziya.bayramova/posts/723082684445325:0).
In Tatarstan, the activist said, “every
day Muslims are arrested, searched, persecuted, put in jail, and beaten … And
all these evil deeds are committed in the name of the government and carried
out by government organs – the police, the FSB, investigators, procurators, and
judges … The leadership of Tatarstan either closes its eyes to this or supports
this.”
“As a result, the people remain indifferent
to the fate of these oppressed Muslims and does not stand up in their defense.
Only a few human rights activists report to the entire world about the evil
deeds committed against Muslims … For these lines [alone], I am being accused
of undermining state structures,” Bayramova said.
For more than 20 years, Bayramova has been
speaking out about the rights of Tatars and Muslims, and she has gained
increasing attention as others have confirmed that what she has been saying is
true. But this case has brought her more
attention than ever before not only in the Russian Federation but in Ukraine as
well.
Her trial received extensive coverage in the
Tatar media, in the human rights community (sova-center.ru/religion/news/extremism/counter-extremism/2014/10/d30344/
and
sova-center.ru/misuse/news/persecution/2014/10/d30354/), and what is perhaps most important in the
mainstream news agencies (newsru.com/russia/01oct2014/milli.html). As a result, the case is backfiring on the Russian
authorities.
But equally important, Bayramova’s
case has attracted the attention and support of the Crimean Tatars. On his Facebook page today, Refat Chubarov,
the president of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatars, praised her for her courage
and her unwavering support for the rights of the Tatars and other Turkic
peoples of Russia (qha.com.ua/sud-nad-fauziei-bairamovoi-vizval-rezonans-v-ukraine-chubarov-140297.html).
Chubarov said that Bayramova’s
actions are “a clear example for all who defend the right of their peoples to
self-determination and free development,” adding that history shows that such
strivings for freedom “always end with the acquisition” of that freedom
whatever the powers of states do to try to prevent it.
“Tatarstan and the fraternal Tatar
people, which have a centuries-long history of national statehood thanks to the
self-sacrifice of Tatar patriots [like Bayramova] undoubtedly will occupy a
worthy place among other free peoples,” Chubarov said.
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