Watchdog

A leading Tatar activist will remain under police supervision for eight years after his expected release from prison later this year.

In what lawyers are describing as an unprecedented decision, a court in Russia's Komi region ruled on July 11 that Rafis Kashapov, chairman of the Tatar Public Center, be barred from political and public activities for eight years under parole-like supervision.

Kashapov's lawyer, Ruslan Garifullin, told RFE/RL on July 13 that Russian law allows postsentence restrictions placed on those who "systematically violate penitentiary regulations," but being placed under police supervision for eight years is unprecedented in Russia.

Kapashov was convicted of calling for separatism and inciting ethnic enmity in his native city of Chally in September 2015. He was sentenced to three years in prison, including time served, and is set for release in December.

He posted several articles on the Internet in 2014 that harshly criticized Russia's annexation of the Ukrainian region of Crimea and its treatment of Crimean Tatars, as well as Moscow's involvement in the war in eastern Ukraine.

Kashapov says his case was politically motivated.

Kashapov's Tatar Public Center is an NGO in Tatarstan's second-largest city, Chally, which campaigns to preserve Tatar national identity, language, and culture.

Amnesty International says it has information that a missing Ukrainian blogger is being held by pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine's eastern region of Donetsk.

In a July 12 statement, Amnesty said it had received information on July 8 from sources in the Donetsk region saying that Stanislav Aseyev is being held by the self-styled security organs of the Russia-backed separatists.

Aseyev, who writes under the name Stanislav Vasin and who contributes to RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service, disappeared in Donetsk on June 2.

The separatists who control some parts of the Donetsk region have repeatedly denied having any information regarding Aseyev.

But Amnesty said it was a common practice for the separatists to keep in custody people they suspect of disloyalty to what they call the Donetsk People's Republic or of "subversive" activities incommunicado while denying knowledge of their whereabouts.

Amnesty also said that Aseyev remained at risk of torture and other ill-treatment and called for immediate action to release him.

RFE/RL Editor in Chief Nenad Pejic said earlier that Aseyev's detention, if true, was "deeply alarming and lawless" and demanded his immediate release.

On June 12, Ukraine's National Union of Journalists asked the Special Monitoring Mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe for assistance in locating Aseyev.