Former member of the Simferopol Regional Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people Eldar Mensitov was abducted by occupation patrols on June 9 – the activist was found only 2 days later in one of the Simferopol police stations. The occupation court illegally arrested Mr. Eldar for allegedly “failure to comply with the lawful demands of a police officer”.

According to his lawyer Safiye Shabanova, during a conversation with her client, she noticed traces of beatings on Mr. Mensitov’s body, and he also complained of pain in his rib. The defense lawyer said that on the way out of Simferopol, the so-called “patrol policemen” put him in another car with masked men, who took him to the police station.

On June 10, Elvira Mensitova reported the abduction of her husband, who did not return home from work. Later, Eldar Mensitov’s car was found at a market in Simferopol.

This is not the first time the occupation forces have persecuted the activist: in 2021, his house was illegally searched for alleged involvement in the explosion of a gas pipeline in the village of Perevalne, for which the occupiers convicted Nariman Dzhelal and the Akhtemov brothers. Eldar Mensitov also appeared in the occupation court as a witness for the defense in the case of Mustafa Dzhemilev, who was illegally “tried in absentia” by the occupiers.