Freedom House Condemns Arrest Of Crimean Tatar Journalist, Lawyer
By RFE/RL
Freedom House has condemned the arrest of lawyer Emil Kurbedinov and his client Seyran Saliev by Russian-imposed prosecutors in Ukraine's Moscow-annexed Crimea region.
Robert Herman, the vice president for international programs at Freedom House, is demanding the immediate release of Kurbedinov and Saliev.
A court in the Crimea's capital of Simferopol on January 26 sentenced Kurbedinov to 10 days in jail for publishing video footage from a Hizb ut-Tahrir rally in 2013 -- the year before Russia illegally annexed Crimea.
Saliev was arrested the same day and could face terrorism charges.
Both Kurbedinov and Saliev are Crimean Tatars.
Russia has been heavily criticized by international rights groups and Western governments for its treatment of Crimea's indigenous Turkic-speaking, mainly Muslim people since Russia seized control of the Ukrainian region in March 2014.
Arrests, disappearances, and killings of Crimean Tatars have been reported.
JUST IN FROM OUR NEWS DESK:
A senior adviser to U.S. President Donald Trump, Kellyanne Conway, suggested in televised comments that lifting U.S. sanctions on Russia is "under consideration."
Conway made the remark on Fox News on January 27, when she was asked about a telephone call planned for January 28 between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The questioner said that "some have suggested" that sanctions imposed on Russia by former President Barack Obama's administration "are going to be on the table right away" and asked, "What can you tell me about the agenda?"
"All of that is under consideration," Conway said.
Here is today's map of the security situation in eastern Ukraine, according to the National Security and Defense Council:
