The international community is criticizing Moscow for the decision by the Supreme Court in Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014, to ban the Mejlis, the executive representative body of the Crimean Tatars, as an “extremist organization.” In rendering its decision Tuesday, the court was following the lead of Russia’s Justice Ministry, which last week suspended the Mejlis for what it called “extremist activities.”
U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said banning the Crimean Tatar Mejlis “removes what little representation and recourse that the Tatars have left under Russian occupation.” The Crimean Tatars, he said, face oppression, repression, …read more
Source: Voice of America
