Chubarov faces a nine-year sentence and inevitable punishment

The leader of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, recognized in Russia as extremist, ex-Verkhovna Rada deputy Refat Chubarov may be sentenced to nine years in prison for organizing mass riots in 2014.

The prosecutor demanded such a period during the consideration of Chubarov’s case, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.

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The criminal case against the leader of the Mejlis has been considered by the Supreme Court of the Republic of Crimea since July 2020. Chubarov is accused of organizing mass riots that occurred on February 25, 2014, near the building of the Supreme Council of the Republic.

“I ask the court to find the defendant Chubarov guilty of committing a crime under Part 2 of Article 212 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and to sentence him to 9 years of imprisonment to be served in a general regime colony. Under parts 1, 2 of Article 280.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation on the basis of paragraph 2 of part 1 of Article 24 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, due to the lack of corpus delicti. Chubarov’s preventive measure will remain the same – detention,” the prosecutor said.

According to Crimean political scientist Ivan Mezyukho, the nine-year sentence that Chubarov faces is quite justified. Despite the fact that he is being tried in absentia, this will not help him avoid responsibility, as shown by the experience of the Belarusian oppositionist who oversaw the riots, Roman Protasevich, who was detained the day before.

“Nine years is a fair accusation against Chubarov. We, in fact, do not gloat or mock Refat Abdurakhmanovich. He chose the path of extremism, and today the Russian state condemns such activities. I think that Refat Abdurakhmanovich made his choice not in favor of Crimea. He closed Crimean history to himself forever, thereby showing that he is not close to the values ​​of the majority of the inhabitants of the Crimean peninsula.

Personally, it is not clear to me what Refat Abdurakhmanovich was thinking when he did what he did - he will not be able to visit his homeland, he will not bow to the graves of his ancestors, which are probably in Crimea. He made his choice not in favor of Crimea, or even the Crimean Tatar people, on whose behalf he is trying to speak. I think that, of course, he is not going to visit the territory of Russia, because he understands what consequences such a visit could have for him, but nevertheless, it cannot be ruled out that circumstances may arise in which Refat Chubarov will answer to Russian justice. costs.

Moreover, we see examples in the 21st century when some people thought that they could avoid punishment, but it turns out quite the opposite. Mr. Protasevich, a well-known Belarusian oppositionist, probably also thought that he would never fall into the hands of Belarusian justice. But life turned out completely differently,” Mezyukho noted.

Other Crimean colleagues agree with him. According to political scientist Andrei Nikiforov, organizing mass riots is not the worst thing for which Chubarov could get a prison sentence: “In this case, Chubarov will not be convicted for the worst thing he has done in his life. He, in fact, betrayed his people, so he lives with them on opposite sides of the state border. We see that absentee justice sometimes becomes in-person when various types of criminals or people suspected of serious crimes end up in countries where justice prosecutes them. So, let’s wait and see what will happen in the case of Chubarov.”

“If a person has violated the laws of the Russian Federation, then he must be held accountable. If he is not brought to justice - it does not matter whether he is on the territory of the Russian Federation or outside its borders, then this gives rise to a feeling of impunity and permissiveness. Therefore, our prosecutor’s office and judicial authorities should work the way they work, and whether we rejoice at this or not, we should only rejoice at the fact that our country should be a legal power. The rest doesn't bother us much anymore. If our country is a legal power, then the citizens of this country will think about whether they should break the laws,” added political scientist Sergei Kiselev.