A look at the life of Mustafa Dzhemilev

Mustafa Dzhemilev is considered a strong symbol for those standing against Soviet totalitarianism and the repression of civil and national rights of the Tartar (a Muslim minority group) and Ukrainian people. Dzhemilev is a Ukrainian, Crimean and Tartar activist who chaired the Crimean Tartar local parliament before being elected to sit at the Ukrainian parliament. He has dedicated his life to a non-violent struggle in defence of human and minority rights and freedom of speech. Together with his friend, Andrei Sakharov, they stood against the Soviet crushing of the Prague Spring in 1968, and established the first civil rights group in the Soviet Union. Born in Crimea, Dzhemilev was only six months old when his family, along with the rest of the Crimean Tartar population, was deported by Soviet authorities. He grew up in exile in Uzbekistan. In 1961, Dzhemilev and several of his friends established the Union of Young Crimean Tartars. Since then, he was living under constant surveillance. Between 1966 and 1986, Dzhemilev was arrested six times for anti-soviet activities and had to serve time in soviet prisons and labour camps. He is also remembered for going on the longest hunger strike in the history of human rights movement, which lasted for 303 days. He had only survived after being forcefed. In 1989, he was elected head of the newly founded Crimean Tartar National Movement and became chair of the Crimean Tartar local parliament, the Mejlis. His support to the Ukrainian struggle for the reform and democratic freedom formed bases of his election to the Ukrainian parliament in 1998. In April 2014, Dzhemilev was banned by federal law from entering Russian territory for five years. Later, the Russians issued an arrest warrant for him and placed him on the federal wanted list for allegedly trying to cross the border illegally. He was also the target of various extremist groups for his advocacy of modern democracy among the Tartars.