Russian Authorities Arrest And Fine Crimean Tatars

Two Crimean Tatars from the Russia-annexed Crimea region have been found guilty of extremist propaganda.

Enver Krosh, from the northern city of Dzhankoy was sentenced to 10 days in jail, while Ebazer Islyamov, from the peninsula's northwestern Nyzhnyohirskyy District, was fined 2,000 rubles ($35), after their homes were raided by police on January 25.

Police seized a mobile phone, laptop, and a tablet from Krosh's home, according to local human rights group Crimean Solidarity.

Krosh's case was taken to the Dzhankoy District Court and Islyamov's to the Nyzhnyohirskyy District Court, where an ambulance was called after he felt unwell.

Both Krosh and Islyamov are practicing Muslims.

Rights groups and Western governments have repeatedly denounced what they called a persistent campaign targeting Crimea's indigenous people -- the Turkic-speaking Crimean Tatars, the majority of whom opposed Moscow's annexation of the Black Sea peninsula from Ukraine in March 2014.