SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine -- Crimean Tatar activist Edem Dudakov has been sentenced to 10 days in jail in Russia-annexed Crimea on a charge of inciting interethnic hatred, which he rejects.
The Bakhchysaray district court sentenced Dudakov on February 18, a day after he was detained and his home searched by officers from Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB).
Dudakov pleaded not guilty and said he will appeal the ruling.
The charge against Dudakov stemmed from a social media post he made in 2017 over a lawsuit filed by a mother who was upset her child had to learn Tatar in school.
Police detained 15 people from several dozen who came to the courthouse on February 18 to show their support for Dudakov, a leading member of the Congress (Kurultai) of the Crimean Tatars, who in recent months has been actively raising the issue of the decrepit condition of the historic building of Hansaray (Khan's Palace).
The palace, built in the 16th century, was home to a succession of Crimean Khans and is one of the best known Muslim palaces in Europe, alongside the Sultan palaces of Istanbul and the Alhambra in Spain.
Moscow’s annexation of the Crimean Peninsula in 2014 was vocally opposed by many Crimean Tatars, who are a sizable minority in the region.
Exiled from their homeland to Central Asia by Soviet authorities under the dictatorship of Josef Stalin during World War II, many Crimean Tatars are very wary of Russia and Moscow's rule.
On February 17, Ukrainian Ombudswoman Lyudmyla Denisova condemned Dudakov's detainment, calling it "another act of persecution and intimidation of Crimean Tatars" by Russia's occupying authorities.