Crimean Tatar lawyer wins human rights prize

Crimean Tatar lawyer Emil Kurbedinov has been awarded a top international prize for human rights activists at an event in Dublin.

Irish NGO Front Line Defenders named Mr Kurbedinov as the 2017 Laureate of its annual Award for Human Rights Defenders at Risk.

According to them, Mr Kurbedinov has played a key role in providing legal defence to members of the Crimean Tatar minority from persecution following Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014.

He also provides emergency response and documentation of rights violations during raids and searches of activists’ homes.

In January 2017, Mr Kurbedinov was detained, interrogated, and eventually prosecuted for “propagandising for extremist organisations”. He was sentenced to ten days in detention.

In April, he was named as a finalist for the award, along with human rights defenders from South Africa, Nicaragua, Kuwait and Vietnam.

Front Line Defenders said the finalists and their families have faced attacks, defamation campaigns, legal harassment, death threats, prison sentences, and intimidation aimed at stopping their peaceful work.

Andrew Anderson, the NGO’s executive director, said: “Today we celebrate and stand in solidarity with all five finalists. In the midst of a global crackdown on human rights defenders, they demonstrate the will to persist in the face of severe, often life-threatening risks.”

Accepting the award, Mr Kurbedinov said: “When we defend political prisoners and persecuted activists, we are going against a system in which there’s no hope of a fair trial. Winning an acquittal for my clients is almost impossible – but what I can do is show them that despite the risks, I will not abandon them.”